t LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, t 

^ ^ 

|lj\ITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



Aii^ 



GLIMPSES OF LIFE 



IN 



SOUL-SAVING; 



SELECTIONS FROM THE JOURNAL AND OTHER 
V/RITINGS 

OP THE ' 

REV. JAMES CAUGHEY, 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 



REV. DANIEL WISE, D. D. 



Of 



/" c NEW YORK: 
W. C. PALMER', JR., PUBLISHER 

(successor to foster * PALMER, JR.) 

No. 14 BIBLE HOUSE. 
1868. 






3tp 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1868, by 

W. C. PALMER, Jr., 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



Macdonald & Palmer, Jr., 
Printers and Stereotypers, 43 Centre Street, New York 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



CHAPTER II. 

SIGHS FROM SOLITUDE, 
Hope — Restlessness of Foot — Cheering News — Bunyan — Spring — Happiness. . . . ao 

CHAPTER III. 

WAKEFIELD. 

The onslaught-'Results— Scene under a sermon — Sandal Castle — A cattle-field — 
Wars in England— An ancient chapel— Temple Newsome — Knight Templars — 
Popery — Singular inscription 24 



CHAPTER IV. 

THORPARCH. 

Seneca's wonder — Visit to York — The minster — Impressions — Curious little deed — A 
lunatic incendiar\' — York Castle — Horrible mementoes — Lunatic Asylum — Work- 
ing out the salvation of the world — The engineer — A sad case—Wakefield Lunatic 
Asylum — A great concert 32 



IV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 
LEEDS. 

The wanderer — Smoke nuisance — The plague — Public buildings — Kirkstal Abbey — 
Woodhouse Grove School— Studley Royal— Scenery — Ruins of Abbey— The 
echo 43 

CHAPTER VI. 

MIRFIELD — BAJsTK HOUSE. 
Conversions — Autograph sermon sketches, by Mr. Fletcher — Reflections 6i 

CHAPTER VII. 

SHEFFIELD. 

A great outpouring of the Spirit — Reflections'^Visit to Hull — Success of soul-saving 
— Preparing for York 67 

CHAPTER VIII. 

YORK. 

Buckling on the armour— The "Backcast" — A lowering sky — A dying Saint — Mili- 
tary feeling — Victory making way for victory — Wesley — Napoleon — Hannibal, 
their tactics — Contrast — The first Sabbath — Angels and revivals — Reception in 
York — A proposal — Half measure — Saying of Napoleon — Valley of dry bones — 
Light for the courageous — Saying of a politician — Inscription for the heart — 
Veteran sinners — A law Lycurgus — Prayer — Watching for the sun — Fanning the 
flame ^ ■••^ 70 

CHAPTER IX. 

"TAKE HEED TO THYSELF, AND UNTO THY DOCTRINE." 

The two-fold salvation — The letter and the Spirit— Formalists — Prejudice — Toothless 
notions — Preaching to self— Cold iron — A good heat — Doctoring not needed. . 81 

CHAPTER X. 

WISE FOR BOTH WORLDS. 
The awakening— Conversion— Life insured— Sudden death 86 



CONTENTS. V 

CHAPTER XI. 

LIFE IN PREACHING. 

Truth and Life — Saying of Jesus — Defective Gospel — Intolerable preadiing — Con- 
vincing preaching — Cheerfulness — St. Paul's bundle — Purity and faith — Prolixity 
The Sloth and the Snail — Liveliness of manner 93 

CHAPTER XII. 

SPreiTUAL TACTICS IN YORK. 

Looking for an advantage — Generalship — Truth betrayed — The oak-pulpit style — The 
difference — Angels — Foundation — Work — Warfare — The iron pillar 9S 

CHAPTER XIII. 

BIRDS OF PARADISE. 

Pulpit thoughts — Heavenly visitants — Voices — Bolder quiresters — The victory — Ex- 
temporaneous preaching — The escape — Caging the birds — Memory — A proverb — 
Aviaries — Peopling a sermon — Decline of life — A difference accounted for — 
Health — Statistics of the revival in York 103 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SURE FOUNDATION — A SERMON. 

A stone in jewelry — A splendid folly — The two builders — Christ a foundation — Differ- 
ence in taste — The staple of preaching, defended — A dying sinner — A glimpse of 
the revival — Important questions — A good title-deed — A question in Architec- 
ture - Ill 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE SURE FOUNDATION — A SERMON. 

False prophets — Time a commentator — The architect's choice — The new birth — The 
Tower of Babel — Tall houses — Building for eternity — Salubrious foundation — The 
fetal mistake — Architectural question — Soul-health — A crisis — Defective title- 
deed — Witness of the Spirit — Death scenes— Aristotle's Oeconomics 119 

C H A P T'E R X V 1 . 

THE GREAT TEST. 

Revivals test character— Winter scene — Spring— Saying of Virgil— Importance of 
roots — The Jewish Church — A crisis — Exhortation 131 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GBEAT DISTmCTION— AN EXORDIUM. 

Rooted in love — Results— Hearing with the heart — The contrast— Similitudes— The 
dead tree 140 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

RETURN ARROWS. 

Archery— Pulpit archery — The back of steel — Arrow for arrow— The wild olive — 
Serpents and doves — Growing sinners — Deep rooting — A sure title — An evil 
heart 143 

CHAPTER XIX. 

MORE RETURN ARROWS. 

Extravagance — York and Quebec compared— A Quaker lady— Saying of Christ — No 
better than a devil — Sinners in Zion — Truth no doctoress — Saying of Claude- 
Abhorring a vacuum — Worldly wisdom at fault — Philosophy of storms — Penti- 
costal storm — Power of truth 148 

CHAPTER XX. 

WALLED CITIES — A PRIVATE HINT. 
The mouse in a tub — Opinion of Addison — A strong expression — Carnal wisdom. .153 

CHAPTER XXI. 

STRAY ARROWS. 

Alarming text— The stampede — Romish priest— Hell— Keeping to the text— Threat- 
enings of God— A necessary fence— Benevolence of God— The Bible-Eden — 
Flaming sword — The tongue of fire — A night fight — The antidote — Bible threaten- 
ings, manner of announcing — Promises of God — Differences of administration. 155 

CHAPTER XXII. 

MORE STRAY ARROWS. 

Holiness and happiness — Sin a system of discords — History defined — The disappoint- 
ment — Parody on Job — The priceless gem— .Saying of a French divine — Bums — 
The spirit of burning 163 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 

Setting up for himself— Puiling them out of the fire — Sharpness of style — Insincere 
moralist — Bigotry — Hard Blows — Hands purer than the heart — Chamber of 
imagery — Mark of the blest i68 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE PRINCE OF MORALISTS. 

Wrong premises — The honest weaver— An accomplished Pharisee — A glimpse from 
his tower — Salvation — The perfect robe — Beacon for the dispairing 173 

-CHAPTER XXV. 

MORE OP THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 

Praising an untried physician — Fruitless views — Grapes on a thorn — A religion of 
negatives — The lunatic's task 176 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

FRAGMENTS FOR AN OFFENDED MORALIST. 

Negatively good — The harmless servant — Two trees— Sins of omission — Too late — 
Dammed by mistake — Dives — The perplexrity — A case for perdition 179 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE ENQUIRING MORALIST. 

The new creature— Nature of the change — Who he was, not what he was — The ven- 
ture of faith — A new Bible, or a new heart — Judas 189 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A FRAGMENT. 

An old dispute — Consent of the will— The work of faith— Thunder for thunder, bolt 
for bolt — Saying of Bernard — God's arrows — Free agency — The onset — Will 
arrested by fear— Saying of Luther — Exhortation 192 



VIU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

GOADS FOR THE TARDY. 

Healing — The hereditary sin — Gradation Pardon — Imaginary lion — Saul and Tarsus 
— Instantaneous pardon — The two sciences — Showing the path— Self-deception — 
The sea-captain — The two-fold look— Grand Imposter — Elected to what ?. ... 196 

CHAPTER XXX. 

PRIMITIVE PATRONS OF THE GOSPEL — A SERMON. 

The common people — Dtputation from John — The uninterrupted succession — Revi- 
val in York — Primitive facts — Mammon's territory — Saying of a rich man — A 
bold thought — Entangled hearers — Gold dust — Merops — Satan's poor — The 
Lord's poor — A princess in disguise — The comparatively poor — The Lord's 
rich .' 202 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A LOUD BT,AST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 

By two and two " — Saying of Hesiod — Verbosity — The poor and the Gospel — Coat 
better than the heart — A knight of the royal order — The barked tree — The prefer- 
ence — A godless family — Saying of Ambrose — The Gospel poor — " A looker on " 
— The harpooned — A primitive fact — The Lord's negatives — Distinctions in 
eternity — Artist's epitaph — An old trumpet — Pebble set in gold — Satan's poor — 
Pronouns — Earnest Preaching — Putting down in brine — Terrible epidemic — A 
faithful watchman — Lenitives and corrosives — The highway to Heaven — Suddenly 
rich — Seneca's girl — Plodding formality — A dream — A puzzle for theologians. .213 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

PLAIN DEALING "WITH VARIOrS CHARACTERS — A SERMON. 

Hearing — Remarks of a German — Digging the ear — Self-interest — Sharp axe — Second 
commandment — Saying of Luther — Seventh commandment — Indelicacy — Cow- 
per's sentiment — Fourth commandment — Going to law — Invisible hooks — Law 
sermon — A soldier's experience — Devil's logic — Law and Gospel — Use of the law 
— A distressed and persecuted penitent — Satan — More sail — The first lesson — 
Decision urged — The religion of principle — Persian convert — Exhortation 237 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS — A SERMON. 

Time to come — Fear and futurity — Manly fear — A dispairing penitent — Satan's lie — 
The wrong doei- — A law of the kingdom — The beggar — The brand in the fire — 
Despair a sin — A wounded sinner — Dying backslider — Saving faith — Luther's 
exclamation — A discouraged mourner — Self-justification — The honeycomb — Un- 
belief — Looking for reasons — Penitential errors — Looking off to Jesus — Bunyan's 
conflict — A pull against Satan — A law-condemned sinner — Too many saviours — 
Bad policy — Justifiying faith — Closing with Christ 254 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

PARENTAL AUTHORITY— THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG— A SERMON. 

Colloquial style — An implication — Hearing, thoughts upon — The deaf child — Enjoyed 
by brutes — An indignant parent — His right allowed — Opinion of a Jew — Solon — 
Implicit obedience — A limit — Obligation dissolved — Job's wife — Overstepping 
the charter — Saying of Jerome — Double gilt — A cause for thanksgiving — Perse- 
cuted children — Piety at home — Spiritual aggression — Aristotle on filial duty. .271 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT — A SERMON. 

The Lord's side — Law and Gospel — An earnest penitent — Tears, no merit — May do 
injurj' — Christ all or nothing — Roman senate and Caesar — A finally impenitent — 
What implied — Hell, why afi-aid of it— Sin unto death — Presumption — The sin 
of sins — A short cut to liell — A despairing and tempted sinner — Satan's policy — A 
Sophism — Gospel sorrow — Plank of free grace — Irish penitent — The drowning 
man— Victory 288 



PAET SECOND. 

CHAPTER I. 

POSITIONS OP THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH IN YORK. 

Taking the giant by the throat — Straws in the wind — Galaxy — Hidden ones 31 

1* 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER II. 

HOLINESS OF HEAKT— A PARADISE. 

Old philosophers, an t^inion of— Sentiment of Wesley — Personal experience — ^Jesus 
— A chapel" in the heart — Worshippers — Hope 314 

CHAPTER III. 

PELCILINGS ABOUT THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

Centenary Chapel — The broad axe — Sacrament — Divine memento — Humanity and 
Divinity of Christ 319 

CHAPTER IV. 

DAVID GREENBURY — A CHARACTER. 

" In prison oft " — The Gospel found him — The change — Diamond in the rough — 
None need despair — Ashamed of everything else but the Gospel 322 

CHAPTER V. 

A POTENT ARGUIVIENT WITH BELIEVERS. 

Encouraging thoughts — Transition state — Gleams of light — "Great Indicators" — 
Method of preaching holiness — The Ouse — Gay's fisherman — Fishers of men — 
Felicities running into felicities 327 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAW SERMON — COMMENTS. 

An awful occasion — Fiery serpents — Sentiments of a French divine — Giving of the 
law — Bowing the soul — attention and responsibility — The prayer-meeting — The 
grand defect— Death before life — A fearful conflict — Law and will— A needed 
sermon— Two trees— The law axe 332 

CHAPTER VII. 

MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 

Tickling or rending sermons— Cheerful views— A discouraged warrior — Clinging to 
the law— Remarks of a German — Legality maintaining its course — Oil to "supple 
the will" 344 



COl^TENTS. XI 

CHAPTER VIII. 
LAW SERMON — TAKING NOTES. 

The index — Aspects of the audience — Repulsive questions — Principle of injustice — 
The honest clerk — The cross — Law — conduct 349 



CHAPTER IX. 

IN THE FURNACE. 

Argerius' garden — Attack of illness — ^The sparkling gem — Dying General — The 
chrysalis — Saying of Napoleon — Sanctification by faith — Thread of silver — Mighty 
faith 355 



CHAPTER X. 

PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

A glorious Sabbath — Tears to the best use — Wells opened — Rev. James Everett, his 
sermon — Plutarch's comparison — Rev. Mr. Comuck's address to children — Com- 
pared with Everett ^ ^-^ 361 



CHAPTER XI. 

AGAIN IN THE FURNACE. 

A second attack of illness — Jesus interposed — A sign — Floating thoughts— Herbert — 
Pains and praise — Spirit of prayer — Wasting conflicts — Zeal — Cleansing the tem- 
ple — Principles of action — Love tokens — Red Sea — Going into Heaven out of a 
revival— The rush— Ruling passion — Banks of the Ouse — A touch of gladness — 
Grateful thoughts 365 



CHAPTER XII. 

BELIEVING FOR SANCTIFICATION. 

The two revivals— Stability— Believing for a clean heart— The watchword — Doctrine 
assailed — Greisbach — Wesley's views — Wesleyan Orthodoxy — Fletcher's teach- 
ings 375 



XU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

SANCTIFICATION ENTIRE— WHY WITHHELD. 

Fearful alternative — A quaint comment — Indistinct seekers— Breaking with Chiist — 
Faith misunderstood — The young housewife 381 

CHAPTER XIV: 

GAINma STRENGTH. 

Deep contentment — The river Ouse — Manna and the rod — Hail and adieu — Tear- 
fountains — " The railway king " — Triumphal entry — An Italian custom — Owning 
to fear— Truth and its thunders— "Words of fire — " The still small voice " — My 
jewels — Worldly glory — Saying of Bacon 385 

CHAPTER XV. 

ANONYMOUS AND ANNOYING LETTERS. 

Testing the metal — Satan's mail — Policy — Expediency — Lee-way — Tartness — Fire in 
the flint — "Try again " — Unbecoming livery — The best flower — Jesus — Safe path 
— The tincture — Education 392 

CHAPTER XVI, 

THE REVIVAL IN YORK — NOTICED. 
A newspaper notice — A lovely sight - 398 

CHAPTER XVII. 

LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 

" Law Sermon " — The recovery — God's order — Wind bound — Sailing of the fleet — 
Gales from Calvary — The plant of renown — Law sickness — Jesus made precious 
— The bailsman — Busy sinner — A tower of strength — Statistics of the revival in 
York — Preserving the new converts — A brand plucked out of the fire — The 
stoiTn 400 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

Calvary Gales continue — Truth triumphant — " Golden spots of time" — Easy preach- 
ing — Herbert's key — Seasoning — Importance of faith — Theorizing — Grandly prac- 
tical — Personal experience — The net or the hook — Peter's Soliloquy 412 



CONTENTS. XIU 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 

The Moon — Satum, a magnificent object — The epitaph — A libel — Aspect of the Moon 
— The wish — Address to the Moon — Partiality — Solar System — Expressive Scrip- 
tures — A sublime idea — The Forum of Rome, view of, Emotions — The central 
throne — Calvarj' — A stupendous fact — sentiment of a French divine — Paying too 
dear — The soul 419 

CHAPTER XX. 

MORE NOTES OP THE REVIVAL IN YORK 

Imagination, its uses — Extremes — " Cloud-land " — Holiness rectifies the spirit — Ser- 
pent's dust — Manna in the vale — Language of holiness — Progress of the work — 
Restitution — Backslider reclaimed — More restitution — The spiritual echo — Imagi- 
nation — Tact — Genius — The world's leavings — A remarkable case — sharp mis- 
er>' 430 

CHAPTER XXI. 

SUDDEN DEATH OP A LEADER. 

A cloud of witnesses— The prelude — Mighty change — The martyr — A result of grace 
Gone over to the majority — Remark of Flavel 438 



CHAPTER XXII. 

NOTES OF MEN AND THINGS IN YORK. 

Rev. D. Walton, his style — Rev. Charles Cheetham, remarks on his sermon — Pleas- 
ant rides — Song of birds — " Silken Christians " — Riding to Heaven on the back 
of the church — Active Christians — Restitution — Sadness 442 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE CORNER-STONE AND THE WORM. 

Laying a foundation stone — The little worm — The true comer-stone — An address — 
Reflections 448 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



MEETING THE NEW CONVERTS. 



A great gathering — Wesley's triumphal song — Powerful prayef-meeting — Health poor 
— Correspondence extensive — A dream — An old bill 454 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

YORK CASTLE. 

Prison scenes — The rum demon — Montgomery — Repentance — Intellectual oscillations 
— The minister — The river Ouse and tributaries — Castle Howard — The Mauso- 
leum — Diogenes — Last judgment — Ionic Temple — Scenery — The plough-boy's 
primer. 4S9 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

CONCLUDING NOTES IN YORK. 

Worn down — Extent of the revival — An aged saint — An old man's blessings — 
Missionaries for America — Visit to Leeds — Sinners converted — A cloud-scene — 
Scarborough — Visit to Maiden — Souls saved — A happy companion — Return to 
Scarborough— Sea-air — An old warrior 469 



GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 




^ 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

T is now twenty years since the writer made his first 
acquaintance with the Rev. James Caughey and his 
very remarkable labors as a revivalist. After care- 
fully observing Mr. C's. methods during a revival in Provi- 
dence, R. I., and in Fall River, Mass., I felt convinced that a 
republication of the best portions of his journals and letters, 
which had already appeared in England, could not fail of 
doing great good in this country. Guided by this conviction I 
prepared a volume for the press under the title of " Meth- 
odism in Earnest," and in connection with the Rev. R. W. 
Allen, gave it to the public. Its success was immediate and 
complete. Thousands of copies were rapidly sold, and very 
soon I heard from many ministers assuring me that the book 
had greatly quickened their own souls and given them new 
insight into the philosophy of scriptural revivals. They also 



16 TNTRODUCTOKY NOTE. 

assured me that tlie circulation of the book had been followed 
by a powerful work of God in their stations and circuits. 

Confirmed by these facts in my original convictions, and 
encouraged by the large sale of the first volume, I made further 
selections from Mr. Caughey's published writings and from 
his manuscripts, which were also published by myself and Mr. 
Allen, under the titles of "Revival Miscellanies," "Earnest 
Christianity Illustrated," «&c. The sale of these volumes was. 
immense, and they were productive, as I was repeatedly 
assured, of glorious revivals of religion in many places. 

In obedience to the call of the church, I came to this city 
nearly twelve years since, and as required by the discipline, 
withdrew my connection with the publication of books. My 
dear friend, Mr. AUen, continued the business and brought 
out still other volumes from Mr. Caughey's fertile pen, which 
also met with great favor fi'om the religious public. 

Meanwhile, Divine Providence kept open effectual doors 
for Mr. Caughey in England, where he remained for several 
years, laboring with his wonted success. At length it ap- 
peared to him that his future field of labor would be in this 
country. He returned, and a few weeks since I was agree- 
ably surprised to see his face in my office. He informed me 
that he was about to issue two new volumes of selections 
from his journals and papers, and requested me to read them, 
to introduce them to the public, especially to the readers of 
his former works, and to render him some other trifling aids 
in bringing them through the press. 

Though crowded, even to burdensomeness, with official 
work, I nevertheless consented, for the sake of " auld lang 
syne," to do so. I read his manuscripts, and now take great 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 17 

pleasure in commending this and its companion volume, 
" AiTows from my Quiver," to the favorable consideration of 
the children of God. 

The readers of " Earnest Christianity " will recollect that 
the great revival in Huddersfield, England, was the chief 
topic of that volume. Eighteen Hundred converts and neary 
ei'ffht hundred believers sanctified, were the gi-and results of 
that work. The toil very nearly broke down the laborer, 
and he was compelled to retire from the rich harvest fields 
to the quietude of "Bank House," Yorkshire, the residence 
of his friend, Benjamin Wilson, Esq., where he remained 
five weeks. 

This volume introduces the reader to Mr. Caughey at 
Bank House. From thence it guides him to Wakefield where 
Mr. C, gathered much fruit in a short time; but again 
almost breaking down, he is found reposing at " Thorp 
Arch;' then seeking change of air, with favorable effects, at 
York, Leeds, and Liverpool. The reader is finally taken to 
York and made the hearer of some of Mr. Caughey 's most 
effective discourses, the spectator of another great work of 
God, and of the workings of Mr. Caughey 's mind while en- 
gaged in mighty conflict for souls. 

Tlie last named feature is the characteristic of the volume 
and gives it its chief value. Mr. Caughey, with singular 
frankness, uncovers his heart and permits his readers to see 
the workings of his emotions, his hopes, his fears, his joys, 
his griefs, his trials, and his triumphs, while earnestly engaged 
in his great work. Every soul-winner will at once see the 
value of this insight into the mental workings of one of the 
greatest revivalists of his times. He will learn from it that 



18 INTRODUCTOEY NOTE. 

even the cliampions of the Lord's hosts pass through the 
same trials as the less distinguished soldiers of the Cross, and 
that even the mightiest and most successful owe their 
triumphs more to God than their own strength. The 
lesson of the volume is that man is strong only when God 
helps him. 

Mr. Caughey, with a simphcity peculiarly his own, also 
reveals the eiFect produced upon his head and heart by the 
shafts of the enemies of revivals, which were so numerously 
and constantly hurled upon him during God's great work. 
Letters of criticism and super-criticism, anonymous and 
otherwise, came to him almost daily at York. Sometimes 
they made him smile, sometimes they wounded him even to 
tears. Some of them drove him to his knees ; from others 
he forged sharp arrows, with which he pierced anew the 
hearts of the King's enemies. But none of them weakened 
his faith or unnerved his arm. Aided by Divine grace he 
made them all contribute to the progress of the work they 
were designed to retard. The mental processes and the 
heart struggles, by which he achieved this blessed result, are 
skillfully portrayed in these pages. In no other work is the 
inner life of a great revivalist so laid open to the view of 
others. 

It is because the volume ^ves this view of Mr. Caughey 's 
interior life, of his feelings in public, in private, in the closet, 
and in the church, that it is fitly entitled, " Ghmpses of Life 
in Soul-Saving." Its style is often abrupt, but it is also 
strong. It has both grit and grip. It will enable the reader 
to understand readily the valuable truth which its writer 
means to communicate ; his heart must be very hard if he is 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 19 

not at times very strongly impressed by its burning and 
impressive words. Trusting that it will be at least as suc- 
cessful and useful as the best of its predecessors, I commend 
it to the thoughtful attention of every earnest, working 
Christian. To them I am convinced it will be profitable. 
For formalists and luke-warm professors it will have no 
charms, albeit, they would doubtless be mightily quickened by 
it could they be induced to read it with candor and patience. 

Daniel Wise. 

Englewood, New Jersey, I^ov. 26, 1867. 




CHAPTER II. 

SIGHS FROM SOLITUDE. 

Bank House, April 28, 1845. 
AM hoping for returning vigor. My health is in a 
precarious state. Cough troublesome. Homer 
says, " Hope gives strength and horns to the poor 
man." But then he hints that she is 2i fugitive — "afair 
fugitive ; " but, while she stays, 

• " Bids the wretched strive to live." 

3Iy hope is in God ; tlierefore I cannot be wretched. But 
it requires more grace to suffer than to do, to be passive than 
active ; — the experience of all disabled ministers, I presume. 

v^ ^ y& ^ ^ ^ 

Writing a little ; but much under open sky, with that 
" habitual restlossness of foot," which Wordsworth thinks is 
peculiar to the sailor, who is schooled to it as he measures 
the short domain of his vessel's deck, as she travels onward 
through the dreary sea ! It is much my habit, also ; wliether 
I have learned it in " keeping step " witli many a sailor on 
the solitary deck, or from lonely tlioughtfulness and retro- 
spections in strange lands ; — when it is as if my soul would 
train the feet to imitate the restlessness of her thoughts. Be 



SIGHS FROM SOLITUDE. 21 

it as it maj, my soul enjoys thus many a delicious season, — 
many an important lesson, — many a smile from above, wliile 
like a pacing sentinel, she 

*' Guards the least link of Being's glorious chain." 



Cheering news from Sheffield ! — the new converts gen- 
erally standing fast, — eleven hundred of them meeting in class 
weekly, aU warm in their first love. O, A'ho would not love 
re\'ivals ! — a revival such as that was ! I am longing to 
behold another of the same, any where the Lord my God 
may choose. I can sympathize with St. Paul, who said to 
his spiritual children at Thessalonica, " For now we live, if we 
stand fast in the Lord." The credit of revivals is at stake, 
and those which occur imder any ministry in England are 
watched very narrowly. But this is not all ; — St. Paul 
expresses the rest : " For what thanks can Ave render to 
God again for you, for aU the joy wherewith we joy for your 
sakes before God ; — for what is our hope, or joy, or crowTi 
of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord 
Jesus Christ at his coming ; for ye are our glory and joy." 
Sweet words, full of simplicity and power. O, how these 
things do comfort the solitary heart at such a time as this ! 

" My lieart and all my powers now say, 
My God, I live and die for tliee." 

John Bunyan used to say of those places where God had 
greatly blessed his ministry in the conversion of sinners, that 
he counted as if he liad " goodly buildings and lordships 
there ;" tliat his heart was so wrapped up in the glory of 



22 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

tliis excellent work, that he counted himself more blessed 
and honored of God by them as his spiritual children, than 
if God had made him Emperor of the Christian world, or 
the Lord of aU the glory of the earth without it ; adding, 
*'0h, the power of those words in James v. 19, 20,— 
* Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one 
convert him, let him know that he wliich converteth a sinner 
from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and 
shall hide a multitude of sins ;' and Prov. xi. 30, — ^ The 
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life ; and he that winneth 
souls is wise.' Nothing goes so near my heart, unless it is a 
fear of the loss of my own soul, than that any of my spiritual 
children should go back into the world ;" — a feeling shared 
largely by all who have prayed and wept and preached and 
agonized for the salvation of sinners successfully. 

****** 
Spring advances as if something were pulling her back. 
There is much complaint against her in these regions, and 
many who would nod a strong assent to that uneasy senti- 
ment of a poet : 

"Spring is but the child 
Of churlish Winter, in her froward moods, 
Discovering much the temper of her sire ; 
For oft, as if in her the siream of mild 
Maternal nature had reversed its course : 
She brings her infants forth with many smiles, 
But once delivered, kills them with a frown ! " 

Winter has, indeed, retired very reluctantly, unusually 
so for this climate ; " from time to time looking back, while 
at his keen and chilling breath, fair Flora sickens ; the first- 



SIGHS from' solitude. 23 

bom of Spring, nipt with the lagging rear of Winter s frost," 
as one poetically observes. What would they say were they 
dwellers in some parts of North America, where 

" Winter lingers in the lap of May, 
To kiss returning June ? " 

A dull Spring this for poor unsaved sinners, whose hap- 
piness so greatly depends upon the state of the weather and 
other outward circumstances ! Blessed be God ! though 
weak in body I have had much of Eden weather in the soul 
within ! — with a restlessness, it is true, of this call to preach, 
but could sympathize, with a burst of joy, in those truthful 
sentiments of him, who said : 

" A lunar change, an Easter wind, 

A gloomy day, or meagre dinners, 
A season cold, a look unkind. 

May spoil the Paradise of sinners ! 

" But he who summer has within. 

May brave the seasons altogether, 
He lives above the clouds of sin. 

And has perpetual Juli/ weather i 

" Then cease to blame our humid isle, 

The fault is in thyself alone ; 
Love makes December heaven's smile, 

And turns to bloom the torrid zone !" 

Yes ! one may enjoy a summer within at any Reason of the 
year, wlicn tlie heart is pure, and fdled with perject love. 
Blessed be God for what I do enjoy ! — and with how many 
rich temporal comforts has he surrounded ino I with smiling 
tendernci^s of kindest friends. Tlie Lord ^,'u &s and reward 
them. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul ' 




CHAPTER III. 

WAKEFIELD. 

May 5, 1845. 
COULD bear solitude no longer. Oh ! this call 
to preach ! — ^this " Woe unto me if I preach not 
the Gospel." TFbe, if I neglect preaching it ; and 
woe if I do not preach the wliole gospel. The call does cer- 
tainly allow necessary rest ; but it may intrude, and render 
solitude irksome ; — " souls are perishing while I am idling.'" 
Enough ! Off* for the battle ground of Wakefield ! — ^I ar- 
rived, and made a sudden onslaught upon Satan's kingdom, 
the Sword of the Spirit in my hand, biddin^g defiance to the 
Devil in my soul, and having burning, weeping love to poor 
sinners in my heart. I preached twice on Sabbath, held a 
prayer meeting on Monday night, and preached twice on 
Tuesday, and twice on Wednesday. The power of God 
was present in every service. They appointed a secretary ; 
the following were tlie results of those four days : two hun- 
dred justified, and one hundred and thirty sought and found 
purity of heart. Math, v., 8. All of whom had their 
names and places of residence recorded ; — some were in from 
ten to twenty miles around ; — they came to be sailed, and 
were not disappointed. A most extraordinary effiision of 



WAKEFIELD. 25 

the Ploly Spirit occurred last night, during the sermon. 
The sobs and cries were wonderful. Had I closed just 
then, the results would have been far greater than they 
were : for it appeared as if God had come down in terror 
and power upon the vast mass around ; but I had only been 
preaching about ten or twenty minutes, and felt unwiUing to 
close so soon, I, therefore, silenced the people, and went 
on ; — thus gi'ieving the Spirit, it is to be feared. — I should 
have paused just then, ceasing to speak, ivhen God himself 
was speaking ; — should have fallen upon my knees and all 
the people with me, and let the Lord God of hosts do as he 
pleased with them. But, no ! I went on ]■ — all became still 
enough, till the sermon closed ; — then I saw my error, and 
was grieved, and promised the Lord that if ever he came so 
near again, and vAih. such a remarkable manifestation, I 
would be silent, and let him do his own work in his own 
way. I trust he has forgiven me. However, about forty 
souls were saved in the two blessings, pardon and purity, 
before the close of the prayer meeting. O, but it seemed to 
me, to use an idea of Mr. Plarris, as if the Spirit of God 
were passing through every region of every soul present, at 
that awful instant ; — diffusing himself through all its capac- 
ities and recesses ; — throwing light into the understanding, 
a,ssailing and subverting the fortress of sin in the heart ; re- 
vealing himself as the antagonist of sin — disturbing and 
tracking it in all its windings — stirring the soul to its depths, 
drawing it slowly, but surely to a crisis — pihng up these 
sentences of condemnation, one upon another, until the 
whole soul, collecting all its energies into one outcry for 
mercy, exclaimed : " God be merciful to me a sinner ! 
2 



26 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

What must I do to be saved ? Save, Lord, or I perish ! 
O, save or I sink into Hell. Heal my soul for I have 
sinned against thee." Aye ! thus it was last night among 
the Wakefield sinners ! 

I have enjoyed several agreeable rambles around this 
town. The scenery is full of interest and rural beauty ; — 
some sweet solitary paths in difierent directions, and I have 
enjoyed them : 

" By sweet-briar hedges, bathed in dew, 
Let me my wholesome path pursue, 
When summer flings, in careless pride, 
Her varied vesture far and wide ; 
Where ail the charms of chance with order meet. 
The rude, the gay, the graceful, and the great." 

Wakefield is a pleasant town, reclining on the southern 
declivity of a hill, on the north banks of the river C alder. 
It contains about 14,000 inhabitants. The houses have 
mostly a respectable aspect, and an air of great quietness 
pervades the town. 

From a neighboring mound, Low-hill, we had an exten- 
sive view of the town, which appears to advantage from 
this spot ; situated as it is, in the bosom of a rich and pic- 
turesque country, in a high state of cultivation. Our place 
of observation was itself an object of curiosity. It is of 
Saxon origin, but for what purpose such an amazing heap 
of earth was thrown together, has not, I beheve, been satis- 
factorily ascertained. 

A narrow valley lies between it and the ruins of Sandal 
Castle. AVe had not time to visit the celebrated spot, and. 



WAKEFIELD. 27 

indeed, could scarcely get a glimpse of the old walls, they 
are so closely embosomed within the foliage of lofty trees. 

The Castle, we were informed, had its origin in a scene 
of wickedness, which Jehovah could not but avenge. A 
certain nobleman erected it, about 500 years ago, for the 
purpose of defending, from the fury of her husband, an un- 
happy woman whom he had seduced. Here the guilty pair 
resided till the providence of God interfered, with a venge- 
ance that could not be withstood. 

The place must have been extensive, and of considerable 
strength ; as, in 1461, the army of the Duke of York, to 
the number of 5,000, were accommodated therein. In this 
Castle he Avas besieged by the Queen of Anjou. Pier hus- 
band, Henry VI., had been taken captive by the Yorkists, 
and compelled by them to declare the Duke of York heir 
to the crown. She appeared before the walls of Sandal, at 
the head of an army of 20,000 men. The duke, for a time, 
prudently refused to give battle, waiting the arrival of his 
son, whom he daily expected with a numerous reinforce- 
ment ; but on being taunted with cowardice, for not having 
courage to look a woman in the face, his pride carried him 
beyond the bounds of prudence. He opened the gates, 
drew out his few troops, set them in array, gave battle, but 
plunged them and himself into the jaws of destruction. 

We rode over the battle-gi^ound, a little below the ruins. 
Here an army of 20,000 men fell upon that of the duke, 
which numbered only 5,000 ; who were soon overwhelmed 
with arrows, and trampled to death by the queen's cavahy 
The duke was slain at the door of a cottage. The owner, 
a poor woman, terrified by the approach of his enemies, 



28 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

shut the door in his face, and thus he fell a victim to their 
fury. We returned over the bridge where his son perished. 
He was a mere youth, fleeing with his tutor from the scene 
of slaughter, but was stopped on this bridge, and his name 
ascertained. A savage nobleman, named Lord Clifford, 
came up at the moment, and plunged his dagger to the heart 
of the unfortunate youth, exclaiming, " As thy father slew- 
mine, so will 1 slay thee, and all thy kin." How happy is 
England in the present century ! Instead of being involved 
thus, in the horrors of a civil war, the talents and energies 
of her enterprising population are expended upon those noble 
works called forth by the triumphs of science, railwa3'S, 
steam navigation, architectures, manufactories, etc. The 
overplus of her wealth is lavished in improvements upon 
her colonies abroad ; while the overflowings of her benevo- 
lence are circulating over heathen lands, converting the de- 
sert into a fruitful field, and the wilderness into the garden 
of the Lord. 

I saw, the other day, a table of aU the battles fought in 
Great Britain since the first landing of Julius C?esar down 
to 1746, amounting, if I recollect aright, to two hundred 
and ten, and the number of persons slain in these bloody 
contests nearly six millions. Wliat a sacrifice of human 
life ! And for what ? The author of these calculations, 
singles out forty battles from the above, in which 580,000 
human beings were butchered ; but he tells us why : " To 
gratify that insatiable passion — the love of rule, or thirst of 
power." 

Wlien crossing the Wakefield bridge I was struck Avith 
the appearance of a small Gothic chapel, situated at the end 



WAKEFIELD. 29 

of tlie bridge, in the bed of the river, deserted. One of the 
party named it King Edward's Chapel, and stated that it 
was erected in memor}'' of the persons shiin in the battle of 
Wakefield. The westem front was to me an object of pe- 
culiar attraction. I do not remember to have seen such a 
profusion of ornamental carving and elegant workmanship, 
upon any ruin, and on a surface so small ; but I have been 
informed there is nothing equal to it in England. Several 
of the figures are much defaced by time and storm, if not 
by violence ; but the rich tracery and other decorations ore 
sui-prisingly perfect. It still retains a roof, and is in a good 
state of preservation. 

When riding through the towTi we noticed a singular 
wooden building, not unlike your American houses of the 
same material ; only it has no such weather boards ; and 
the black timbers stand out in bold relief from the white 
plaster in which they are incased. It was built in the 
reign of Henry YL, and is still inhabited. 

We visited Temple Newsome, the other day, a few miles 
from Leeds. It was fonncrly the seat of the Preceptory, 
belonging to the Knight Templars. This order was insti- 
tuted about seven hundred years ago, and consisted, origin- 
ally, of a number of religious gentlemen, who renounced 
property, made vows of celibacy, and submitted to the gov- 
ernment of the patriarch of Jerusalem. 

In process of time, the order augmented its numbers, 
and accumulated wealth ; Ijut became corrupt in morals, 
and dangerous to the state, as it increased in riches and 
power. At length, the crimes and enonnities of the mem- 
bers, awoke the jealousies of the civil power. 



30 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

The fuiy of the governments of Europe, throughout 
whicli they had spread themselves, came down upon them 
lilcc a thunder storm ; especially in England, France, Italy, 
and Spain, till the Pope was compelled to pronounce the 
extinction of the order. 

This is another instance of the elasticity of popery, and 
unfolds one of the leading causes of its success in past ages ; — 
its accommodating spirit to the whims, prejudices, and pas- 
sions of men. Let the infalhbility. of the Pope and Poman 
Church be recognized, and no matter how wild and anti- 
scriptural the tenets of any leader, or the rules of any 
party, it has granted them a charter and protection. The 
history of Romanism up to the present day affords to this 
fact illustrations the most ample and striking. 

Nine years after the above order was instituted, it was 
recognized by Pope Honorius II., who assigned them a rule 
of government, and the " white habit " by which they were 
distinguished. 

llie manor of Temple Newsome having been confiscated 
to the croAvn, Henry VIII. gave it to the Earl of Lenox in 
1544, who pulled down the old hall, and erected the present 
mansion, which is of great magnitude, and situated in the 
midst of a beautiful domain. It is built of brick, and re- 
markable for its large windows, and small panes. The eave 
of the roof is surrounded with a battlement of large letters, 
in stone work, composing an inscription, whicli can be read 
distinctly from the grounds, and which speaks eloquently of 
the piety, loyalty, and hospitality of i\\Q noble family by 
whom it was erected : — 

" All glory and traise be given to God the Father, 



WAKEFIELD. 31 

THE Son, and the Holt Ghost, on high; peace upon 
earth; good a\ill towards men; honor and true alle- 
giance TO our gracious king; loving affections 

AMONGST his SLTSJECTS ; HEALTH AND PLENTY WITHIN TIHS 

house." 

We spent an hour in walking through the interior, 
Avhich is richly furnished. The picture gallery is spacious, 
and the collection of paintings must be of great value ; some, 
for energy of design and composition, and beauty of color- 
ing, are not inferior to any I have yet seen in England. 

We were conducted into the room in which Lord Darn- 
ley was born, (he who married the unfortunate Mary, 
Queen of Scots). Poor Darnley! how dreadful was his 
end! 




CHAPTER IV. . 

THORPARCH. 

May, 1845. 
N the pleasant month of May, and in a pleasant 
place, and surrounded with pleasant friends, is 
^fi your humble correspondent. A few choice and 
kindred spirits from Pluddersfield and Mirfield, alarmed for 
my health, hurried me off here, a wilhng prisoner, to this 
secluded spot. O, my God, bless them for their kindness ! 
Seneca, I remember, hearing one promise a friend that 
he would spend a week with him in recreations, wondered at 
the rashness of the promise, and exclaimed, "What! throw 
away so considerable a portion of your life ? How can you 
doit?" Nay, Seneca, but it might have added months to 
thy life, or years ! But, Seneca himself had his seasons of 
recreation for all that. 

Thorparch is a small "watering place," with mineral 
springs, and a pleasant country around. The air is remark- 
ably soft and balmy ; the company full of life and cheerful- 
ness, and, my cough, better — ^how self Avill intrude i I self! 

I had an agreeable drive to the ancient city of York, a 
day or two since, with all our party. What a fine old city 



THORPAECH. 33 

it is, situated in one of the most extensive valleys in Eng- 
land, at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Fosse ; and, 
as to rank, the second city in the kingdom. A poet, who 
wrote about one thousand years ago, says : — 

'■ The city first by Roman hand was form'd, 
With lofty towers and high-built walls adorn'd . 
It gave their leaders a secure repose ; 
Honor to tlie empire, terror to tlieir foes." 

In no city, that I have visited, have I observed so many 
ancient buildings, each promising a rich feast ; but, having 
only a short time to remain, we could not gratify our curi- 
osity. Should I ever again visit the city, you may expect a 
furtlier account. But the glory of York is its Minster. 
This Avord has not yet got into the American vocabulary, as 
a term of distinction among our churches. In the Anglo- 
Saxon it was Mynster ; and in Latin, Mo?iasterium. In an- 
cient times, a Cathedral Church and Monastery were 
SA'^nonymous. 

Immediately after our arrival at the hotel, we commenced 
threading our way through narrow streets, in quest of what 
we had seen for many miles, towering in dark magnificence 
far above the crouching city. The first glance, on turning 
the corner of a mean street, created a something like a feel- 
ing of disappointment, not, perhaps, with the ediiice itself, 
but with the lowness of its position, and its proximity to the 
dwellings of the citizens. But on approaching this majestic 
and stupendous pile, which exhausted nearly two hundred 
years in its erection, and has weathered the storms of three 
centuries since its completion, one is conscious of emotions 
at once elevating and sublime, yet calm and subduing. I 
2- 



34 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

have stood by the brink, or close by the landing place of the 
mighty cataract, have hstened to the loud thunders of its 
voice, which has roared since the deluge, and gazed upward 
at its " delii-ious bound," coming down "like an eternity," 
as if to sweep away everything within its track into the 
profound and tortured gulf at my feet. I have crept with 
care to the edge of the terrifying precipice, and looked down, 
appalled, from the giddy crag, or have made my circuitous 
path to its base, and scanned with trembling awe the over- 
hanging rocks, colored and worn by the storms of many cen- 
turies, and have had sensations powerful and subhme ; — yet 
have found words to express the impressions made upon my 
mind. But, when my eye ranged from one pinnacled angle 
of York Minster to another, until the immense outline of 
this magnificent edifice had filled my vision ; and then luxu- 
riated amid a vast profusion of carved imagery, intermingled 
with elegant tracery, till the imagination itself had received 
its peculiar tinge, from that dark tone of coloring which has 
spread itself like a veil over the entire mass; — ^I stood 
wrapt in mute astonishment. I cannot even now define my 
sensations. The West-end, wdth its elaborately ornamented 
front, is one hundred and twenty-four feet in breadth, and 
its two uniform steeples, nmning up to a great height, in 
eight or ten contractions, are delicate in symmetry, yet 
combining strength in full proportion to their magnitude. 
Each steeple is finished oif with eight crocketed pinnacles, 
and rich with elegant carvings, curious figures, and fine 
tracery work. The entire of this fi ont is certainly the most 
imposing and fascinating coup doeil in architecture I have 
had the pleasure of beholding. 



THORPARCH. 35 

Tlie East front is supposed to contain one of the finest 
windows in the world, being seventy-five feet high, and 
thirty-two broad. It is divided into one hundred and 
seventeen compartments, in which are illustrated many 
Bible events, with the representation of monarchs, confessors, 
and mitred priests. This window, I believe, is considered 
one of the gi'eatest curiosities in England. The archi- 
tecture of this end is in a very florid style, adorned with 
graceful, airy pinnacles ; altogether it is noble and im- 
posing. The South entrance and the North side are gor- 
geously decorated with sculptural designs, each presenting 
beauties for the gratification of architectural taste. The 
Minster is in the form of a cross, from east to west, consist- 
ing of a nave vAth two aisles, a transept with two aisles, and 
in the centre of the transept is, what is called, the lantern 
tower, supported by four massy pillars, branched into 
arches, This tower is a hea^y square structure, two hun- 
dred and thirteen feet high, square at the top, mth a para 
pet without pinnacles, covered and well leaded, affording a 
fine promenade. From its top we liad a commanding pros- 
pect of the city, rivers, and the surrounding country. 

The view in the interior is extremely magnificent. To 
the right, left, forward, backward, or upward, in whatever 
direction the eye ranges, there is a magnitude of dimen- 
sions, and an extent of prospective really amazing ; this, and 
that depth of obscurity, so pecuharly its owti, softty bright- 
ened though it is, with the ever vary-ing tints from many 
windows of stained glass, lead one to sympathize with tlie 
hyperbole of a traveler, respecting a cathedral on the Con- 
tinent, "^\niich seems to realize all that we can imacrine of 



36 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

indefinite space, and interminable length." It has never yet 
been my privilege to behold an architectural exhibition, so 
superb and stupendous, as burst upon our vision, on taking 
the first step into the interior, through, I think, the West- 
ern entrance. Only imagine a vista extending between five 
and six hundred feet, terminating with a Gothic window, 
seventy-five feet in height, by thirty-two wide, casting forth 
it3 varied colors upon the smooth pavement of the extensive 
aisles, throwing into relief the large columns which arise on 
every hand ; while they, in their turn, support arches which 
spread out and sustain a roof, elevated to the height of one 
hundi'ed feet. The scene was, if possible, more surprisingly 
grand, when we stood beneath the central tower. The loijg 
sweep of the aisles, the lofty and numerous columns, with 
the mighty arches, and rich tracery and ornaments of the 
windows, and other decorations were, from this spot, seen to 
great advantage. After taking a turn tlirough the intersect- 
ing aisles, and thinking how glorious must be that house of 
our heavenly Father, not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens, we were conducted into the Chapter House. This 
is also a superb structure, octagon in form, sixty-three feet 
in diameter, and to the top knot, nearly sixty-eight feet 
high. Tlie roof, unsupported by any pillar, is singularly 
dependent for support upon one pin or plug, geometrically 
placed in the centre. We were shoAvn some very ancient 
relics ; one, a liorn made of an elephant's tooth, curiously 
.carved, by wliich, it is said, the church holds property of 
great value, presented by some nobleman, a long time ago ; 
who, it seems, was not happy with his family. This " Horn 
of Ulphus " serves as a '^ title deed " to lands, east of York, 



THORPARCH. 37 

styled, Dq Terra Ulphi. Another was a large and elegant 
Lowl, the gift of one Archbishop Scroope, to an honorable 
company in 1398, but he lost his head soon after. It is a 
wooden cup or bowl, edged round with silver, and orna- 
mented with silver feet, cherubim, etc.; tlie arms of the 
company are richly embossed upon the inside. On the rim 
is the folloAving inscription in old English characters : 
" Richard, arche-beschope Scrope grant unto all tho tliat 
drinkis of this cope XLti. dayes to pardon. 

" Robert Gobson, bcchope raesm grant in same forme 
aforesaide XLti. dayes to pardon. Robert Strensall." 

A large staff, or crozier of silver, about seven feet in 
length, with a virgin and child under the bend, was another 
object of curiosity. Our guide related its history, from 
which we gathered, that an English earl wrested it out of 
the hands of a priest, who was in the act of carrying it in 
some religious procession ; and the Romanists, it is probable, 
never again had it as an ensign of sacerdotal dignit}'-. 

As we were re-passing through the cathedral, divine 
service had commenced in the choir, and the solemn pealings 
of the line organ, swelling and reverberating through the 
long draAMi aisles, in "awful strains hannonious," had a 
most pleasing effect upon the mind. 

In the early part of the year 1829, this noble edifice 
was threatened with total destruction by a fire, the work of 
a madman, named Jonathan Martin. Providentially It was 
confined to the choir ; the wood-work, roof, and organ of 
which were consumed. The incendiary was tried for the 
crime, but acquitted on the gi'ound of insanity ; and was 
afterwards rcmo\ed to the lunatic asvlnm. He has since 



38 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

died. The place wlicre the unhappy man concealed himself 
on the night of the horrible deed was pointed out to us : a 
recess behind an old monument. In the dead hour of the 
night, he arose from his hiding-place, struck a light, and 
collecting prayer books, cushions, and surplices into two 
heaps, one in the vicinity of the archbishop's throne, and 
the other near the organ, set them on fire, and effected his 
escape through one of the windows. Although the fire was 
got under, and the damage confined witliin a comparatively 
small compass, yet such was the injury done to some of the 
splendid work of past centuries, that it was considered a na- 
tional calamity, and excited universal sympathy and regret. 
The call for pecuniary aid was responded to with a liberality 
that did honor to the taste of the country. The choir 
was speedily restored to its original beauty, but at an ex- 
pense of nearly £70,000. In 1840, another fire occurred 
through carelessness, which injured a portion of the cathe- 
dral. 

After dinner we visited the York Castle. The governor 
was exceedingly kind, and conducted us through the various 
departments of the prison. It is a place of great strength, 
and well arranged for the security and management of 
felons. The Castle, with its appendages, occupies four 
acres of ground. When we were on the point of leaving 
the dreary mansion, we were conducted into an apartment, 
where are deposited most of the weapons by which all the 
murders, during many years, had been perpetrated in the 
county ; — a sad and horrible array ! Each, too, has its his- 
tory ; and those unhappy beings who melded them long 
since paid the penalty on these premises to the offended 



THORPARCH. • 39 

laws of tlieir country, and their remains are mouldering in 
the dust close by, but their souls — oh ! their souls ■ 

Adjoining the castle is a high artificial mound, thrown 
up by immense labor, many centuries ago. It is crowned 
with the ruins of a tower, somewhat circular. We spent 
half an hour very agreeably upon this mound. The tower 
was blown up by treachery, in the year 1683, and it has 
never been repaired. At present it is a most picturesque 
and imposing object. 

I received a pressing invitation to re-visit the city, and 
labor for souls, which I intend, if the Lord will, and health 
permit. If so, I may enlarge my notes of this ancient city. 

We also paid a visit to the "York Lunatic Asylum," 
outside the city walls ; a large edifice, and many inmates. 

" The moping idiot, and the madman gay !" 

Here, it is presumed, Montgomery noticed that poor un- 
fortunate he so graphically describes : 

" I. saw an idiot with long, Laggard visage, 
And eye of vacancy, trolling liis tongue 
From cheek to cheek ; then muttering syllables 
Which all the learn'd on earth could not interpret ; — 
Then laugh'd aloud, and crack'd his fingers, smote 
His palms, and clasp'd his knees, convuls'd with glee; 
A sad, sad spectacle of merriment ! 
Yet he was happy ; happy in this life ; 
And could I doubt that death to him would bring 
Intelligence, which he had ne'er abused, 
A soul, which he had never lost by sin." 

In one of the halls sat a middle-aged man, a Roman 



40 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Catholic, pen in hand, intensely engaged in working out the 
salvation of the world. Before him, a paper with a vast 
array of figures, to which he was continually adding. We 
asked him how long before the mighty result should be 
accomplished. " To-morrow,'' was his reply, and he kept on 
laboriously ; as he did daily from morning till night. 

Another stopped me, and said: "You are from a cold 
countr}^, sir. You have passed through hardships at sea, 
sir." " How do you know that?" " O, by your face, sir! 
You have no color in your cheeks, sir ; rest awhile, sir, rest 
awhile, sir; stay long enough in the country to get color on 
your cheek. Go to ray estate. Lady Flint will take care 
of you, sir." 

We thanked the baronet ; the company enjoyed a laugh, 
and we passed on. In another room, sitting by a table, was 
a man, alone by himself, — a sober mechanical-looking genius, 
busy with his finger tracing diagrams upon the table, but 
leaving no marks behind ; — uttering low muttering sounds 
as he moved the finger : 

" His reason strove in vain to find its way, 
Lost in the stormy deserts of the brain." 

Tlie "keeper" informed us, the man had been an engi- 
neer ; and that, while he and his brother were engaged in 
planning some perplexing machinery, he became deranged. 
All the day long he is thus engaged, — working at the point 
of diflTiculty where he lost his reason, years ago ! 

In a larce hall, among other unfortunates, stood one who 
had been a Wesleyan Minister, a man of considerable talent, 
when he had his reason ; but some private trouble had over- 



THORPARCH. 41 

whelmed him. Here he stood, a mournful spectacle, arms 
and hands straight down by his side, and countenance in 
blank vacancy. Two or three idiots came up and looked 
upon him also, and appeared to consider him "a subject for 
study," one of them undertook to prove he was a know- 
nothing and a fool! It was said of Charles VI. of France, 
1414, that he was so incurably deranged, that a liglit like 
that of a sunbeam in a tempest, seemed only to gleam on his 
clouded intellect, enabling him to express approbation or 
disapprobation, with some indication of reason. Alas! this 
excellent man — deep, dark night lay black on all his brain ! 
I was struck with the remark, that there is no darkness so 
great as that which overshadows and overwhelms the glori- 
ous light of mind ; no scene so sad as the fail of intellectual 
greatness from its height ;— nothing in the flight of time so 
gre^ious as the unlooked for funeral of holy expectations ; 
once they were bright and beautiful, but now they are under 
the pall of absolute despair ; — ^lunacy is the sad undoing of 
man's sublimest deeds, the wreck and the ruin of mental 
power : — especially, when it may be said : 

" His darkness came down with no softening gradation, 
On the noon of his Ufe, it was instantly night ; 
It was the thunderbolt killing, in swift desolation, 
In its greeness and glory the pine of the height." 

Wakefield has a Lunatic Asylum, also ; — a neat edifice, 
and in excellent order. I was conducted through it before 
I left. It has a large number of patients ; — sad sight,— 
relieved somewhat by the apparent happiness of man, 
exhilarated by the vagaries of their brain. One of them 



42 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

stepped forward to ma,ke a speech, and after a pause said to 
me — " Sir, I have news for you." Indeed ! Well, what is 
it '? "A wonderful concert of music, sir ; — ^performers, 
angels, brutes, and humans, all taking their several parts, 
sir ; but brutes will far excel in sweetness and harmony." 
Do you think there will be any donkeys among them? 
" What, sir ? " Will the ass have place among the per- 
formers, think you ? " O, as to that I cannot say. How- 
ever, the melody ^\\\\. be heard a thousand miles." He then 
gave us some specimens of his own powers ; and we passed 
on. Another, a female, intercex^ted us, dressed in a most 
fantastic sort : 

" Tu whose confused brain reason had lost 
Her way, long driven at random to and fro." 

With a gay and careless air, she asked if I had seen her 
wandering husband in America. "Do you know him? 
Have you seen him ? " No. Iler wild eye wandered for a 
moment, then fixed itself upon me, as I said : " You must 
pray for him." " Pray for him ! " said she, " Pray for him ! 
I have enough to do to pray for myself" And then reason 
was off 

" Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh." 

« * * * ♦ 

With solemn feelings we hastened back to Thorparch. 
This rest, and these excursions around, are greatly benefit- 
ing my health. 



/ 
CHAPTER V, 

LEEDS. 



P-jjf '^ UR time passed away most agreeably at Thorparch. 



)i^|^ I ventured to preach once, and a few were saved. 
y^^^ Our little party parted at last with much feeling, 
but all were highly delighted with their visit. My health 
is somewhat improved, but relaxation is still needful. 

Tlie warrior takes pleasure in re-visiting his old battle- 
fields, and so do I ; — ^Leeds is one of them ! Here I fought 
a hard battle for Christ and souls in 1843, extending over 
several monllis, during which many hundreds of souls were 
converted to God ; and scores of believers sanctified. O, 
how often am I hailed by these trophies of grace, holding 
on tlieir way rejoicing ! 

And now, here I am in Leeds again, a poor homeless 
v.-anderer, looking around me with an undefinable sigh — un- 
dcfmable ? Ah ! Goldsmith's " Wanderer " has just now 
well defined it : — 

"But Tiif, not destined sucli delights to share, 
My prime of lif*; in wand'ring spent and care ; 
Impell'd with steps unceasing to pursue 
Souk; fleeting good, that mocks in(! with tin; view. 



44 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

That like the circle bounding eartli and skies, 
•Alhires from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; 
jVIy f irtune leads to traverse realms alone. 
And find no spot of all the world my own." 

Although my niind sympathizes with the above which, in 
some respects, is quite applicable, yet, mine is not a "fleet- 
ing good." The good my soul pursues is of a two-fold 
nature ; to be supremely- happy in God, and to see lost sin- 
ners, by the power of the Holy Ghost, rescued from Satan 
and hell, by my humble instrumentality ; and' this good does 
not fly from me, but pursues and overtakes me daily. 
****** 

I have enjoyed a few pleasant excursions in different 
directions, and, " as is my wont," made a few penciiiings, 
which have served to amuse me, and may be worth pre- 
serving. 

The flourishing town of Leeds adorns the slope and 
summit of a gentle hill, which rises from the north bank of 
the river Aire, one hundred and ninety-four miles from 
London, and twenty-four from York. The town extends 
along the river, say two miles, from east to west, and in 
breadth about one mile. That part which lies on the south 
side of the river, and which may be considered the suburbs, 
is of considerable extent, and is united to the to^\1l by tAvo 
substantial bridges. 

Leeds is the principal seat of the woolen manufacture 
in England ; and you could well believe it were you here to 
witness the amazing forest of lofty circular chimneys, not 
unlike an American wood, some years after a great fire, 
when the trees, though left standing, are stripped of their 



LEEDS. 45 

bark, leaves, and brandies. Chimneys imply smoke ; or, to 
be more poetic, — 

" Chimneys with scorn rejecting smoke." 

If the town had the same property of scorning it away, it 
would be well ; bnt^ it settles down and envelops the whole 
place. '\Miat Prior said of smoke in general, seldom appUes 
to that of Leeds : — 

" The smoke that rises from the kindling fires. 
Is seen this moment, and the next expires." 

Sometimes, however, the sentiment of another poet is hap- 
pily realized : — 

" The noisy breeze with brushing wings, 
Sweeps up the smoky mists ;", — 

Then it is that Leeds, and the bold outHnes of its guardian 
hills, with the valley of the Aire between, entertain the eye 
with many very pleasing and picturesque combinations. 
This clarified state of the atmosphere is generally enjoyed 
on the Sabbath. 

The inhabitants have borne the smoke for many years 
with great patience, although the beauty and healthfulness 
of the town have suffered by it. The houses have a gloomy 
aspect, and there arc very few healthy trees in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood. Till very lately, those days have been 
considered unfortunate (with the exception of the Sabbath,) 
when a series of them have passed away witliout smoke. 
The people of Leeds have hjng considered smoke as insepar- 
able from their manufactories, as the noise of their ma- 



46 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

cliinery; but, within a few years, science lias triumphed 
over their prejudices ; even rceh may be conquered Avithout 
stopping the works, or extinguishing their fires. A very 
simple and cheap apparatus has been devised, by which the 
smoke of steam-engine furnaces can be so far consumed, as 
to create no public annoyance ; — no additional consumption 
of fuel being incurred, nor any diminution of the power of 
the machinery. After testing the invention, and finding 
the most sanguine expectations answered, Parhament passed 
a law, that all manufactories should have smoke-consumers 
attached to each of their steam-engine furnaces. I felt sur- 
prised on learning this, to see the vast columns of smoke 
issuing from many chimneys, notAvithstanding. Prosecutions 
have been threatened against the proprietors, but there 
seems to be a general unwillingness to push matters to 
extremities. 

Although Leeds is a town of unquestionable antiquity, 
I have been disappointed to find so few stirring events con- 
nected with its ancient history. There seems to be nothing 
certain as to its origin or derivation of name. History 
tells us of a severe and decisive battle having been fought 
close by, in Avhich Penda, King of Mercia, who was a vio- 
lent enemy to Christianity, was slain, and, also, most of his 
army. 

Leeds shared in the commotions of the civil wars, often 
changed masters, but with little blood-shed. The principal 
action Avas on the 23d January, 1643, Avhen the Pariia- 
mentary General, Sir Thomas Fairfax, summoned the town 
to surrender ; but receiving a haughty ansAver, he made an 
assault on the south-west side of the town. The royalists 



LEEDS. 47 

maintained their out-works during two hours, but were 
driven from them with some loss, and the besiegers entered 
tlie phice, sword in hand ; few were slain, but hundreds 
made prisoners. Towards the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, Leeds was visited bj a dreadful plague, which carried 
off a fifth part of the entire population. The historian re- 
lates, that such was the infectious state of the atmosphere, 
that dogs and cats, mice and rats, died ; and that birds, in 
their flight over the tOAvn, dropped down dead. 

The location of Leeds is most favorable for manufactur- 
ing purposes, and, indeed, for mining and farming. It is 
situated in the heart of a coal district, and surrounded with 
a fine country, in a high state of cultivation. The river 
Aire, a sei-pentine and beautiful stream above the town, but 
sadly disfigured with dye-stuffs during its sojourn here, sup- 
plies the machinery with an abundance of the needful ; and 
being navigable to the Ilumber, it carries off, expeditiously, 
the products of mills, mines, and agriculture. There is, 
besides, an excellent railway, which unites Avith those that 
lead to all parts of the kingdom. 

As for the public buildings, some of them are elegant ; 
but as I find little likely to interest your antiquarian taste, I 
shall occupy but Httle time in description. 

The parish church is of considerable magnitude, and 
quite in keeping with such an opulent toAvn. The three 
principal Methodist chapels are tlic largest I have seen ; — 
plain, substantial buildings, capa1)le, I should suppose, of 
seating nearly eight thousand persons. 

Leeds is well supplied witli places of worsliip; those of 
the Dissenters, as well as the churches of the Establishment, 



48 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

are very creditable to the benevolence and taste of the 
inhabitants. 

The new Court House and Prison are ranked among 
the first buildings in the town. It is composed of a two- 
winged centre, with a central portico of four Corinthian 
columns, supporting a pediment ; the pannels of the wings, 
with their adornments, fasces, fleece, wreaths, etc., in bas- 
relief, present a front at once spacious and noble. I did 
not visit the interior. 

The " Commercial Buildings " is a most imposing edifice. 
The plan appears to be a parallelogram, and the elevation 
Grecian. A portico is formed by the rounding off* of one of 
the angles, which, with two principal fa9ades, forms the 
front. Although the two fa9ades differ in dimensions, they 
do not seem to contradict each other in arcliitecture ; if the 
one have four columns, and the other only two, they are all 
Ionic. The four fluted columns in the bow of the portico, 
are Ionic also, but set on socles, crowned with an entabla- 
ture, surmounted with an attic, concave in the centre, and 
sweeping in the contrary direction. A low dome, of a cir- 
cular form, crowned Avith a handsome cornice, enriched 
with Grecian tiles, rises behind the portico, and gives to the 
building a pleasing and beautiful finish. 

The interior, I understand, is very elegant, but with the 
exception of the reading-room, I have not yet been able to 
snatch time to inspect it. Certainly this is a fine apart- 
ment. I visited it, hoping to find some American papers, 
but was disappointed, and tarried only a few moments. A 
single glance, however, around the room, left a pleasing 
impression. Its double tier of fluted Corinthian columns, 



LEEDS. 49 

supporting a richly moulded architrave cornice, together 
with the divisions and adornments of the ceiling, afford a 
fine proof of the scientific taste of the architect, and liber- 
ality of the proprietors. The edifice is of stone, and cost 
about £34,000. 

The Clotli Halls are a mass of irregular, quadrangular, 
pretensionless brick buildings, little creditable to the opulous 
merchants Avho do business there, often, to the amount of 

£20,000 a day. 

There is an excellent museum in town. The specimens 
illustrative of Natural History are select, numerous, and 
well arranged. 

Leeds is encompassed with populous villages, the most 
handsome of which are Headingley and Chapel-Town. The 
latter, owing to its elevated situation and salubrious air, has 
become the residence of many wealthy famihes ; conse- 
quently, there is a variety of handsome mansions, which 
give a peculiar interest and beauty to the place. Head- 
ingley, however, has been my favorite village. It reposes 
in a sheltered, but elevated valley ; the houses are not 
large, but exceedingly neat, with nice gardens, and 
many trees. An old oak, close by, is always an object of 
interest to me. Tliis venerable, but decaying tree, is 
unquestionably a patriarch of the ancient forests of 
this country'. Antiquaries, who seldom have sufficient 
courage to admit ignorance or mistake, have advanced 
various suppositions respecting its age, and even its 
political history ; but they appear to be little more than 
conjectures. 

About three miles west of Leeds, in the beautiful recess of 
3 



50 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Airedale, on the banks of the river Aire, lie, scattered, the 
extensive ruins of Kirkstall Abbey. 

A short ride, on a lovely afternoon, brought us to these 
^^ time-stricken remains." The scenery, up the vale, is rich 
in all that gives charms to a landscape ; but when the ruin 
burst upon our ^dsion, the effect was delightful — so tran- 
quillizing and subduing ; — the lofty walls of the old Abbey, 
and tower crumbling hopelessly beneath the ruthless hand 
of time ; — the green lawn in front, with the vast elms, and 
other trees, some of them growing amid the roofless chambers 
of the ruin; — the serpentine Aire, clear as crystal, ghding 
along " at its own sweet will ;" — meadows and fields clothed 
and fringed with trees; — and the noble back-ground of 
swelling hills, darkened with woods, whose tasteful outlines 
play into each other with graceful undulations ; an arrange 
ment, in fact, of some of the richest beauties of nature, and 
an assemblage of all that could delight the mind, or excite 
the imagination. 

Kirkstall, with its shattered tower, broken columns, and 
arches, cloisters and grey walls, with ivy veiling, "the 
waste of years," is the principal feature in the landscape, 
and admirably adapted to the pencil. The tranquil and 
pensive melancholy of the desolate ^ruin ; — as if sympathizing 
with its misfortunes; — ^not unlike the efforts of youthful 
beauty to cheer the drooping spirits of old age, or the 
grateful attention of children to the infirmities of an aged 
parent. 

These hoary walls, " Dim with the mist of years," 
maintain a gentle association with one's historial recollec- 
tions, and claim affinity with the touching allusions of seven 



LEEDS. 51 

centuries. In spite of the prejudices entertained toward the 
en-ors of a system which they once sheltered, they lay hold 
of the better feeUngs of the heart, and compel an acquies- 
cence with the concluding Hues of the following verse : — 

"Thy haughty tower, which raised aloft in air 
Tempests have wreck'd, and hurricanes shall tear ; 
Till, low in dust, no vestige to be seen, 
Thy walls lie level with the tufted green : 
Yet shall the spot to every muse be dear, 
And pensive genius oft shall wander here." 

The dimensions of this, once famous, monastery, are 
three hundred and forty feet from north to soutli, and four 
hundred and forty-live from east to west. The church is in 
the form of a cross ; over the intersections of the cross aisles, 
stands the tower, which, though in a ruinous condition, 
bears marks of its former majesty. 

Tlie body is divided into a nave and two side aisles, by 
a double row of massy clustered columns of chiseled 
masonr}^, with Saxon capitals, and square pedestals; the 
sides of each pedestal measuring six feet. These columns 
support pointed arches, over which is a range of windows 
■vvdth semi-circular arches. From the nave we passed 
beneath the to\ver into the choir. The grand altar has long 
since disappeared, but the large window^, shorn of its glass, 
is still there, as if to remind the visitor of these fine hues : — 

*• A mighty window, hollow in the centre, 
Shorn of its glass of many colorings, 
Through which the deepened glories once could enter 
Streaming from off the sun like seraphs' wings. 



52 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Now yawns all desolate ; now loud, now fainter, 
The gale sweeps tlirougli the fretwork, and oft sings 
The owl his anthem, where the silenced quire 
Lie with their hallelujahs quench'd like fire." 

We spent an agreeable hour in traversing the various 
departments of the ruined monastery, and then returned to 
Leeds. 

In company with a few friends, I visited the Woodhouse 
Grove School. It is situated in a pleasant vale on the 
banks of the Aire, about nine miles from Leeds. The sons 
of Wesleyan Methodist ministers, alone, are educated here. 
There are, at present, ninety-six bo;^s in the Institution, 
under the care of four masters. My friend, the Rev. 
William Lord, was appointed Governor, by the last Confer- 
ence, and had got comfortably settled in his new situation. 

Shortly after our arrival, the bell rang for dinner, and 
we followed the boys into the dining halls ; before taking 
seats, they sang, with free and sweet voices : — 

" Be present at our table, Lord ; 
Be here and everywhere adored ; 
These creatures bless and grant that we 
May feast in paradise with thee." 

Having been supplied with an abundance from the 
hands of the governor and masters, they arose and returned 
God thanks, by singing : — 

"Through all eternity, to thee 

A grateful song I'll raise 
But O, eternity's too short, 

To utter all thy praise." 



LEEDS. 53 

In the afternoon, Mr. Lord very kindly introduced me 
to the scholars in the large school-room. The children of 
Methodist preachers are always dear to me, hut my heart 
warmed towards these fine intelligent little fellows in an 
unusual manner, as every cheerful face seemed to say, 
"Welcome, stranger, to Woodhouse Grove." 

After a short address and prayer they all arose from 
their seats, and passed by in rotation, shaking hands with 
me, quite in the Methodist fashion, with all the heart. A 
few were pointed out to me as sons of Missionaries abroad. 
The father of one I knew in a distant land, a devoted and 
successful minister of Jesus Christ, the liev. John 
Brownell. 

The Observatory, an interesting object in the distance, 
stands upon a circular hill close by. It rises, perhaps, sixty 
feet from the summit, but is closely surrounded with a luxu- 
riant grove, which entirely covers the hill. 

The prospect from the top is exceedingly beautiful. 
The hills arise amphitheatrically from the valley of the 
Aire, enlivened with verdant fields, skirted with dark wood- 
lands, in Avhich are nestled mansions of the wealthy, or the 
humbler dwelling of the farmer, while the fore-ground in tlie 
vale below, is cheered with tlie brilliant windings of the 
busy river, and tlie artificial turns of a distant canal. At 
the foot of the hill, reposes, in quiet seclusion, the Insti- 
tution. 

The house of tlie governor is tlie home of the scholars; 
a very respectable mansion, and the internal arrangements 
well adapted for health .and comfort. Tlie gardens, shrub-, 
ber}', lawn, and shade trees, though not very extensive, are 



54 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

well arranged ; add the sweet solitude which, in spite of the 
hum of the boys, has spread itself over all. Tliis is, really, 
as charming a spot as I have yet seen in England. It is, 
however, not unlikely, that the gratification I enjoyed in 
seeing the sons of Methodist ministers so advantageously 
situated for health, mind, morals, and the deepening of those 
religious impressions received under the parental roof, con- 
tributed to impart a loveliness to the scene which might not 
strike a less interested visitor. Institutions such as this are 
much needed in America. One can easily conceive, how 
much anxiety is removed from the minds of those laborious 
servants of God, in knowing that their sons are placed 
where they may lay the sure foundations of a character, 
which may give a desirable distinction to the future man, 
and credit to the ministry of their fathers. 

This Institution was opened in January, 1812; and I 
have been informed that as many as twenty-five ministers, 
now in the Wesleyan Conference, some of them occupying 
prominent places in the ministry, were educated here. 

We bade Brother and Sister Lord and family farewell, 
about half-past five, p.m.; and, just as we started, the boys 
pulled off their caps, and gave us three hearty cheers, till 
they made the welkin ring again. All remained still till a 
bend of the neighboring road brought us in view, and again 
their tiny voices peeled the cheering adieu, which we re- 
turned with a wave of our hats, and the Woodhouse Grove 
School disappeared from our eyes, perhaps, for ever. 

Hastening back to Leeds, I set out for Han-owgate, 
sixteen miles distant, and preached, in behalf of a debt on 
the Wesleyan Chapel. The town is celebrated for its chaly- 



LEEDS. 55 

beate and sulphureous spriugs. As a wateriug place, it is 
popular -with the fashionable world, while the medicinal 
properties of the springs attract, annually, hundreds of in- 
valids from all parts of the kingdom. ^Vhat Saratoga 
Spring? are to the State of New York, those of Harrowgate 
are to the north of England ; but none of the latter equal 
the spai'kling waters of the Congress Spring at Saratoga. 

The situation of Plarrowgate is elevated. There is a 
fineness and purity in the ah* Avhich must render the place 
eminently salubrious. We enjoyed a very gracious Sabbath. 
The " living waters " flowed in abundance. Many of the 
saints were refreshed, and several sinners were healed of 
their spu'itual maladies. Hallelujah ! 

Next morning, an intelligent party of Christian friends 
escorted me to the famous park of Studley Royal. IIoav 
good the Lord is to me, a stranger, in a strange land! 
Blessed be his name ! 

My expectations, though high, were not disappointed at 
Studley. Several hundred acres of hill and dale compose 
this beautiful park. Nature and art have mingled their 
eflbrts here in some of the richest combination to form a 
paradi>e. 

Some visitors have been inclined to criticise with severity 
the too great predominance of art. It would, however, be 
dilTicult to conceive how wood and water, stately avenues 
of giant trees, and walks which appear interminable, shaded 
with luxuriant fohage — graceful vistas, verdant lawns, and 
distant glimpses of temples in miniature, wilh a choice 
variety of clas,'^ical statuary, could be more happily or har- 
moniously disposed for picturesque beauty and eflect. 



56 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

These are merely tlie prominent features of these mag- 
nificent grounds; there are thousands of lesser lineaments 
which I cannot find language to describe, but which have 
left a most pleasing impression upon my mind. 

Within the park, in a lovely and romantic vale, on the 
banks of the river Skell, sheltered by gently ascending hills, 
clothed with woods, repose in soft and imposing sublimity, 
the vast ruins of Fountain's Abbey. 

The stranger is conducted by an ingenious route, en- 
compassed with trees, whose thick foliage serves as a veil to 
hide the scene which is so soon to burst upon his admiring 
vision. 

Arriving at the declivity of a wooded hill, we paused 
before a small summer house, which seemed embedded m 
leaves and branches. Suddenly a door opened, and a por- 
tion of the valley of the Skell, with a fine sheet of water, 
and the Abbey, were spread before us like a scene of 
enchantment. 

"Of all the religious orders," says a writer, "the 
Cistercians were the most distinguished for selecting gi*and 
situations for their houses. The fertility of the soil they 
began to build on seemed to tliem only a secondary object, 
if the surrounding scenery was marked by the hand of 
nature, with a bold outline, and had a river and deep woods 
near it. The site of Fountain's Abbey beguiles admiration 
more by the charms of loveliness than grandeur — it is tJie 
richness of American river-side scenery, in a champagne 
countiy, that invites you to linger upon it ; — fine meadows, 
inclosed by indented diluvial banks of uniform height, with 
nothing but sky beyond their syhan brows ; — no waterfall 



LEEDS. 57 

or glen barred up with walls of everlasting rock, or moun- 
tain towering above the clouds." 

At the moment we were contemplating this lovely scene, 
a gentle shower came down, and detained us, against our 
vnl\, in the place of observation, although the attraction 
into the vale was most captivating ; but we were well repaid 
for our patience. The falling shower Avas brightly illumined 
by the sun bursting througli some neighboring clouds, while 
the ruins, and different objects in the dell beneath, seemed 
to glow in a softened and subdued aspect, but with rich 
coloiing, through the Avatery pai'ticles of this filmy, but 
transparent veil. The scene was replete with beauty, and 
drew the admiration of all. 

How well the mind is prepared to enjoy such a beautiful 
an-ay of the works of God and man, when the soul is happy, 
and all is right vnth. regard to the other world ! 

After the shower, we hastened down to inspect these 
venerable remains. The sky had become suddenly almost 
cloudless, as we approached them along the banks of the 
SkeU. 

The river " emerging from the deep shades of forest 
gloom," — the rich hues of verdant slopes — the freslily wet 
foliage of the trees glistening in the sunbeami^', and the lofty 
tower and stately walk of the Abbey, reposing in archi- 
tectural beauty, and in magnitude that amazed us, was 
certainly a scene of the most tranquil and fascinating loveli- 
ness, to which memory will ever recur witli delight. Time 
will not permit, even were I adequate, to give you a descrip- 
tion, in detail, (jf this wonderful pile. Six hundred years 
have passed away, since the fir«-t anthems of many worship- 
3- 



58 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

pers sounded through these " long drawn aisles." Three 
hundred years it was devoted to the services of the Roman 
Catholic Church ; and during the last three centuries of its 
desertion, it has been gradually and silently sinking to 
decay. 

The choir is of gi-eat width, and leads the eye into an 
extensive perspective through the long and sombre vista of 
the nave ; which, with its side aisles, divided ofi by rows, 
of round and lofty columns, sixteen feet in circumference, 
shows how wisely the architect had designed the whole, to 
add an imposing solemnity to the long processions, and other 
services of the Romish Church. 

The whole length of the interior is nearly three hundred 
and sixty feet. The gallery, under the east window, is sup- 
ported by twelve marble pillars, the freshness and beauty of 
which would persuade one they had been erected in the 
present century. 

We placed ourselves in different positions, in order to 
get the most impressive view. That fi'om the gallery 
alluded to is very fine. A regular and beautiful perspective 
is obtained westward, thi^ough long and columned aisles, 
"WHien standing in the spacious choir, " no longer glittering 
witii the splendid ceremonials of the Roman Church, roofed 
as it is by the changing glory of the sky, and frequented 
only by minstrels of the air," how forcibly occurs the lines 
repeated at Kirkstal : 

" Now loud, now fainter, 
The gale sweeps through the fret-work, and oft sings 
The owl his anthem, where the silenced quire 
Lie with their hallelujahs quench'd like fire." 



LEEDS. 59 

The tessellated pavement of the *' high altar " was, to 
us, iin object of curiosity. As a relic of antiquity, it is 
highly interesting and valuable to the antiquarian. 

As this is the most perfect ruin of the kind in England, 
and encompassed with all the buildings peculiar to a wealthy 
and magnificent monastery, where the relative position and 
extent of the departments and their uses, can be so satisfac- 
torily ascertained, you will probably be disappointed with 
the brevity of my observations. The shortness of the time 
we remained, precluded the possibility of taking many notes 
on the spot, or criticising the various parts ; this, with the 
hurried circumstances in which I now write, must be my 
apology. 

It was to me the richest treat of the kind I had enjoyed. 
On taking our departure from the deserted and solitary pile, 
tlie inscription, high upon the tower, " Honor and glory to 
God, for ever and ever, Amen," was calculated to lead our 
thoughts to that glorious and adorable Being who changes 
not, but who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever ; 
and to leave a deep and salutary impression upon all our 
hearts, of tlie changing destinies of man, and the fading and 
transit or}' nature of all his productions. 

Close by tlie ruin are some overhanging rocks, from 
which echoes, the most distinct and solemn, can be obtained. 
As we stood underneatl), a voice from one of the party 
inriuired, " Our forefathers, where are they ?" A deep, 
sepulcliral voice, yet majestic, as if sounding through tlic 
lofty aisles of a cathedral, reiterated, " Our forefathers, 
where arc they f "They are gone into eternity." — " They 
are gone into etemit}." " Dreadful eternity." — "Dreadful 



60 GLIMPSES OP LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

eternity." " Away from the bar of God, a^Nay." — " Away 
from tlie bar of God, slwslj." " They have long since 
departed." — " They have long since departed." " Not 
dead." — "Not dead." "Alive, in hell or heaven." — 
" Alive, in heU or heaven." " In torments or joy unuttera- 
ble." — "In torments or joy unutterable." "Choose, but 
haste away to meet them." — " Choose, but haste away to 
meet them." "Prepare to meet thy God." — "Prepare to 
meet thy God." " O, eternity, eternity." — •" O, eternity, 
eternity." " Who can number the years of eternity ?" — 
" Who can number the years of eternity ? 

We hastened down the vale, indulging sentiments similar 
to those of the poet : — 

" Beautiful fabric ! even in decay 
And desolation, beauty still is there : 
As the rich sunset of an autumn day, 
When gorgeous clouds in glorious hues combine, 
To render homage to its slow decline, 
Is more majestic in its parting hour ; 
Even so, thy mouldering, venerable shrine 
Possesses now a more subduing power, 
Than in thine earlier sway, with pride and pomp thy dower." 




CHAPTER VI. 

BANK HOUSE, JIIKFIELD. 

May, 1845. 
ARRFV'ED here from Livei"pool two or three days 
since, after a short but pleasant visit to that popu- 
^^.yl lous and flourishing sea-port; I preached there a 
few times, and sinners were converted at every service, and 
believers sanctified. The " notes " of my visit, and remarks 
upon the town, must be reserved for some future communi- 
cation. 

JVIrs. Wilson, my kind host, has given me two autograph 
sermons, or rather outHnes, or sketches, by the Rev. John 
Fletcher. They are closely ^vritteu upon both sides of a 
small shp of paper, four inclies by two, which lay before 
him in the Bible, doubtless, when he preached the dis- 
courses. 

This valuable relic, was presented to her by a "Wesleyan 
Minister, who received it from the hand of Miss Tooth, the 
companion and sole executrix of Mrs. Fletchei^, who selected 
it from a large quantity of Mr. Fletcher's unpublished 
papers. 



62 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

The first sketch has Luke xxiii. 42, 43, for the text : 
" And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily 
I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." 
I have been at some pains to decipher the writing, the hand 
being so small ; and now that the contents of both are before 
me, and I have copied them verbatim, the wonder is, how 
so much could have been crowded into so small a space. 

L The Poaver of the Cross of Christ, and Manner 
OF Conversion. 

1. All men are robbers, murderers, despisers of Christ. 

2. The greatest blessings or plagues humble not. 

3. The prayers of Christ, and grace to answer it does. 

4. Works not the cause of pardon. 

5. The meritorious cause, Christ, — God — ^Lord gives 

pardon. 

6. Instrumental cause, faith and prayer. " Itememher 

me." 
n. The Heart of Christ toward Sinners. 

1. Li these dreadful circumstances, Christ takes notice 

of an ejaculation. '•'• Lord, ^c." 

2. ''^Verily.'' Truth of promise. 

3. " Thou,'' — ^Base and guilty as thou art. 

4. " With Me." What company. 

5. " Paradise" — the abode of Christ. 

6. ^'■To-day." — No delay; now the accepted time. • 
in. Marks and Effects of True Faith. 

1. It judges not by appearances ; — " Lord " — " King- 
dom" 



MIRFIELD. 63 

2. It sees Christ's gloiies, though before it valued hira 

not. 

3. It prays " Rememhe^'." Humbly ; — not,^e^ me in. 

4. It takes Christs 2>ai% and sees his right : " He hath 

done nothing amiss." 

5. Hatred of sin. [Reproof] " Fear God. Dost thou 

not f 

6. Convinced of t77^s^/cc. ''' We, indeed, justly." 

7. An open confession. " For we i^eceive the due 

reward of our deeds." 

8. He had but a heart and tongue at liberty ; both 
used. 

N. B. — Adam lost, Christ regains Paradise. As a proof, 
the thief. Hoav great the miracle ! — rocks, graves, earth- 
quakes, veil, less glorious trophy. The shame of his company 
redounded to his greater glory. 

Sinners. He is exalted to give repentance and pardon. 
Apply. Abuse not God's goodness that leads you to it. 
You cannot outmt God. " Thou fool." Luke xii. 20. God 
■will harden you as the thief How near is Hell and Saviour. 
O, be convinced ; rise against sin. God's fear is the thing. 

Mourners. Ask, seek, knock — Christs' readiness to receive 
sinners ; — grants petitions. Exceeds them. Upbraids not. 

O^^.^The thief never heard Christ before. Peter had. 

Self-righteous. Be not angry at this prodigal receiving 
pardon at the same door ; — one way and door. 

Believers. See your privilege — Assurance — Answer — 
Knowledge of pardon and sanctification — ]\Iake the best 
of a short life — Speak for Clirist on a deatli-bed. — I'-e 
humbled." 



64 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Sketch Second. Acts xiii. 40, 41. 

^'•Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken 
in the prophets. Behold, ye despisers and wonder and perish ; 
for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no- 
wise believe, though a man declare it unto you'"' 

Hab. i. 5. — Coming of the Chaldeans again=t Jeeusalem. 

I, God Works a Wonderful Work in Gospel Day. 

1. A work of Conviction ; — Woman of Samaria. Pha- 

risees. John viii. 

2. A work of Justification ; — Mary — ^Paralytic — ^Publi- 

can. 

3. Sanctification. 1 Cor. vi. 11. St. Paul. New Birth. 

n. ]VIany will not Believe it to be the Work op 
. God. 

Conviction, they call despair. Justification, presumption 
and enthusiasm. Sanctification, being righteous over much. 
They believe it not, though a man declare it unto them, — as 
God's promise, and his o^vn experience ; — though that man 
may be Christ, or Paul, a dying man, — a disinterested 
person. 

ni. They Despise and yet cannot help Wondering. 

1. They despise the place, — the instruments, — the great 

instrument, the Holy Ghost, — Christ crucified, — 
preached. 

2. Tliey wonder ; — why so much ado ; — why the loss 

of reputation, preferment, ease, pleasure. 
Unbelievers. Does God work? ^^ Behold T Consider 
your need of the work, ye despisers and unbelievers. '' Won- 



BANK HOUSEj MIRFIELD. 65 

dei'j'' — at the patience and goodness, power and mercy of 
God. Wonder and glory in the cross. "Wonder aright, and 
ye shall not perish. Wonder and despise and perish, — as 
the world in Noah's day ; — as Dives, the rich man. 

You THAT Believe God Does Work. — Does he work 
in you? How far? Be not offended by counterfeits. God is 
here, the workman. The blood is . shed. The word and 
Spirit present. O, work on your part ! — ^Believe aud pray. 
Careless, awake. Mourners, rejoice. Behevers, abound in 
praise and good works. Christs' reward is with him, — work 
before him. What wouldst thou have me do ? A word from 
Christ does the work, Saul, Saul ! Go in peace, Martha, 
Martha ! A new heart. Annointing — ^king — prince. Be- 
hold, wonder and be saved. 

Ye that AiiB IX Earnest and Peaceful. — He that has 
begim, — ^he that is the Alpha and Omega, Avill finish. Pray 
for a deeper work, — in your hearts, — day, — church, — ^minis- 
ters, — 'v^'itnesses who declare it. 

Works of Death, Judgment and perdition, ivondcrous ! 

Great " hones " these ! — necessarily diy and bare ; but 
when " clothed upon," ^\\i\\ a power from above, and set in 
motion by that burning intellect, we may imagine the effects ! 

The prophet Ezekiel speaks of " the likeness of the living 
creatures." Ezek. i. 13. These sketches are but " skeletons " 
indeed, but when covered with sinews and flesh, and skin, 
and embroidered with arteries and veins, and animated with 
fire, such as Prometheus never stole, and filled with the* 
unction of the Holy Ghost ; — and going forth among the 
congregation at Madley, — ])right and burning as coals of 



66 GLIMPSKS OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

fire, — shining as lamps of* light, — running and returning, [as 
Ezckiel describes,] like flashes of lightning ;— the noise of 
their wings like the lu^isc of great waters, as the voice of 
the Almighty, as the voice of a host; — aye ! in the hearts 
and consciences of sinners, and the saved of the Lord. Such 
was the preaching of the seraphic Fletcher ; — so terrifying 
were tlie effects, that on one occasion he wrote to Charles 
Wesley stating tliat he was on the point of taking to his 
heels, and flying from Madley, nev(!r to return I 



CHAPTER VII. 



S H E F F I E L D 



i^'^^ '^^"^ 4, 1845. 

^vfi^F ERE I am at Sheffield once more, and with health 
^^^:^- much recruited, blessed be God ! I was received 
fih^^ as aiiectionately as ever at Shirley House, the 
mansion of Nathaniel Greaves, Esq. Have preached in all 
the chapels since my return, in both of the Sheffield Circuits. 
First in Ebenezer, and then in Carver Street Chapels, to 
vast crowds. And O, what shall I say ? an inlluence from 
above carried evervtliiiiii: beloro it ; — swept like a fire over 
a western prairie ; for O, it is a fact ! that one hundred and 
forty persons received salvation, — nearly one half of whom 
were cases of justilication, the remainder sanctilication ! 

Last Sabbath I spent on the other circuit, and preached 
twice in r.ninswic-k Chapel ; the secretary reports ninety 
justified, and one hundred believers sought and found purity 
of heart ! I record these facts with great conlidence, kjiow- 
ing the intelligence, care and piety of the faithful secretary, 
lirolhcr Shnrnmn. 

On ]\ronday evening we held a prayer-meeting in the 
same chapel, when twenty poor sinners professed to find 
mere}--, and thirty believers, purity of heart. Acts xv. D. 



68 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

The next service was held in Norfolk Street Cliapel. 
The Lord gave me strength to blow the trumpet in Zion with 
good effect, and twenty-eight found peace in believing, and 
twenty the blessing of purity, and besides a good collection 
for the Attercliff Sabbath-school. I preached twice at 
Brighouse Chapel, morning and night, the result of wliich 
was, sixty converted, and forty purified. 

Here I pause, and return all the glory to Him who has 
styled himself, " Mighty to save ;" and surely he has proved 
it in these few services. I have wi'itten to my friend, and 
brother, unvarnished facts. My soul is humbled to the dust 
in view of it all ; — I can only say, " To me who am less 
than the least of all saints, is this grace given," to preach 
the Gospel at a time when the Holy Ghost from Heaven, 
seems so willing to accompany it. I tell you, my dear friend, 
it is aU of God ! It was his work. The axe cannot boast 
itself against liim that heweth therewith ; no, nor the saw 
magnify itself against him that shaketh it ! Isa. x. 15. O, 
uo, my Lord ! no ! But I would conscientiously record thy 
wonderous doings in my day, and if spared, tell of them to 
the generations to come. 

A cloud of mercy hangs over Sheflield. Indeed, it has 
never departed an hour since the great revival last year. 
Sheffield is a heaven-favored town. Is there anything too 
hard for God ? saith my heart. But O, my cautioned soul 
is impressed to work while the day lasts. How can I 
expect that Satan will stand and see his goods spoiled, and 
his kingdom shaken, and not resent it, — resist it, and raise 
up distressing opposition from quarters least expected ? 
However, I have peace in all my borders now, and, 



SHEFFIELD. 

' I'll praise him for all that is past, 
And trust him for all that's to come." 



69 



Hudderslield, June 13. — I arrived here yesterday from 
Hull, -where I preached thrice ; — tAvice in " Kingston 
Chapel." The pillar of cloud and of fire wa.s with us, as at 
ShetTield. Twenty found mercy, and eighteen fuU salvation. 
The night following, at " Great Thornton Street Chapel," 
ofl'ered salvation to a crowd. Thirty-five accepted the oiler, 
and found mercy, and twenty believers purity ; — at least so 
they professed, — and O, who could doubt that saw and 
heard them? — and so they were registered. But God 
knoweth the hearts of all ; and I can sing : 

" O, the goodness of God, employing a clod, 
His tribute of glory to raise ! 
His standard to bear, and with triumph declare 
His unspeakable riches of grace ! " 

3Iy eyes are now turned towards York. I am busily 
engnged in writing ; but looking up to tlie Lord also, regard- 
ing York. I am olFering myself to him, for what is likely to 
be a great spiritual conflict ; but uncertain whether my 
health is in such a state as to bear it ; — yet, inclined to trj^, 
and if I fail, the design, at least, is noble. If in the order 
of God, may I not expect strength equal to the great fights 
Jesus is not a hard master ; — ^never has been so to me ; — 
He never has sent me a warfare at my own cliargcs; — but 
has always provided me strength equal in my day ; and he 
will do so ajrain. Amen ! 




CHAPTEE VIII. 

YORK BUCKLING ON THE AEMOUB. 

* ^ * York, June 19, 1845. 

, HASTENED away from Huddersfield on the 14th 
^\^^ inst., for this old city. It is perilous to linger, 
^^•£lo when the Head of the Church so blesses one's 
ininistry everywhere. Now seems to be the time, — " the set 
time," when the Holy Ghost aifords me the most convincing 
evidence of his willingness to accompany my labors. Neglect 
on my part, might provoke " such a backcast," as one 
expressed it, as to cause me to follow limping all the rest of 
my days. It is best not to risk it. 

It is best to Work while the day lasts ; the night may be 
(;oming when I cannot work. This is evidently the harvest- 
time of my ministry. Winter may be approaching. It is 
Avise to reap when I may. The time is coming, perhaps, 
when I would, but cannot. The signs of the times are 
ominous. I understand them somewhat. The ecclesiastical 
sky is red and lowering ; — foul weather is at hand. Matt. 
xvi. 3. God help me. No parleying now with flesh and 



YORK. — BUCKLING ON THE ARMOUR. 71 

blood ; — strike the ii'on -while it is hot, — or till it is hot,— 
but strike. Those lines are near my heart : 

" Though now the storms of sorrow roar, 

And raise in cares a troubled sea ; 
Yet when I stand on yonder shore, 

There will be calm enough for me ; 
Why then for tempests should I care, 
Since they but drive me sooner there." 

I may say Avith that dying lady : " Thus far has the 
Lord brought me through the wilderness, bearing, chasten- 
ing, forgiving, restoring. I am near to Jordan*s flood. May 
my blessed High Priest, and the Ark of the Covenant lead 
on my staggering steps the little further I have to go ! " 
Amen ! But like the hero on the battle-field, I must strike 
en for " God and victory " while life lasts. Amen ! 

I have been thinking, and perhaps the thought has been 
your o^^-n, sometimes, that there is much of military life, 
— in idea and feeling, at least, in these soul-saving conflicts. 
Tlie gospel ministry rs a war. The world, the flesh and the 
Devil, the combined enemy ; — ^more to be dreaded than the 
combined armies of Amraon, jVIoab and Seir, which made 
Jehosaphat to fear and fast and pray, and aU his people 
with him. Again, one victory makes way for another ; — 
predisposes other toAvns, — gives influences, — rouses expecta- 
tion, — creates faith,— -conviction, — popularity. Now, the 
great Captain of our salvation expects us to understand 
these advantages ; — looks to see whether we take advantage 
of them, and improve them to the uttermost ; — neglect 
them, and one may never have the like again. 



7Z GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

There is philosophy, or " the reason of things," besides, 
in all this ; — rapidity of action excites attention in this 
world of ours ! Christ has given me a succession of vic- 
tories in England. York has felt the influence thereof, — a 
wave has passed over her, and she is awake, aye, and Satan 
too ! No matter. It is best to follow the wave, and repeat 
the blow. The tide is not at its flood. That is to come 
yet ; but there are waves of influences, which have already 
carried me close up to the enemy's works ! Must move 
rapidly — ^Wesley-like. Was not this the secret of Wesley's 
success ? — the rapidity of his movements ? — and of Napoleon 
Bonaparte's victories ? — as if he had stolen a leaf out of 
Wesley's book ! Did not that great conqueror owe many of 
his bloody victories, to the whirlwind swiftness of his 
motions ? — at the heels of his foes before they knew it ; 
rear or front there he was, and fight they must, or surrender. 
Ceaseless activity, — concentrated action,— rapidity of blows, 
by these he shook Europe, and astonislied the world. It 
was well said of him that no conqueror ever felt more 
deeply the maxim, that an invader should never pause ; — 
that excessive rapidity, incessive attack, and prodigal 
expenditure of lives, were the principles of the French 
system of warfare under Bonaparte ; he acted upon these 
maxims more, perhaps, than any other warrior that ever 
existed. One victory made way for another. 

Hannibal was deficient in most of these great military 
qualities ; — the battle of Cannae for illustration. That vic- 
tory left the Roman power prostrate at his feet, and Rome 
at his mercy, or next to it. Instead of advancing at once 
upon Rome he paused, deliberated, hesitated, lingered, and 



YOKK. — BUCKLING ON THE ARMOUR. 73 

lost his advantage for ever! Maharbal advised him to 
mai'ch instantly upon Rome, having no doubt of its immedi- 
ate surrender. Hannibal objected, that such a step required 
time for mature deliberation. To which his general replied : 
" I see that the gods have not endowed the same man with 
all talents. You, Hannibal, know how to conquer, but not 
to make the best of a victory." Bonaparte knew both. 
Plannibal deliberated, and let slip his opportunity ; while 
Napoleon would have thrown himself upon terrified Rome, 
like an avalanche, and soon dictated terms upon the Capito- 
line ! 

May I not take a leaf out of Napoleon's book of tactics, 
in my turn ? He for temporal ; I for eternal glory. He for 
an earthly ; I for a heavenly crown. He for kingdoms, 
crowns, and sceptres, and the destruction of human life ; I 
for souls, and for a crown that fadeth not away ! Hallelujah ! 
Ambition is allowable here ! 

Well, ^^^th such, or kindred feelings, I arrived in York, 
and received a hearty English welcome to the house of Ben- 
jamin Agar, Esq. Next morning [Sabbath] I preached in 
the Centenary Chapel, a commodious edifice, on the joy of 
angels over repenting sinners. Luke xv. 10. 

It was a good time to my soul, however others felt. O, 
how it does fire my soul to tliink that angels are spectators — 
hearers, — and both here and in Heaven, take a rejoicing 
interest in the success of a preached gospel ! 

Tlie text tells us why there is joy in Heaven ; and Luke 
xvi. 22, reveals unto us tlie soul of a poor saved sinner, 
" carried by angels into Abraham's bosom ;" — carried by 
angels, — one angel would have been enough, one would 



74 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

think, unless the devil contended for the soul of Lazarus, as 
he did for the body of Moses ; — a thing not likely. Angels, 
doubtless had a joyful time over the conversion of Lazarus, 
and now they rejoiced to carry him home to heaven ; — ^a 
company of them, as if many were ambitious to bear a part 
in conducting a saint into glory ! Besides, Lazarus was one 
of God's princes, of the blood-royal, by adoption, though a 
beggar at a rich man's gate, and full of sores, and dogs for 
his physicians ; — members of the royal family are heirs to a 
noble retmue of attendants. We shall know more of this 
by-and-by. A certain king of Egypt, to show his magnifi- 
cence, had his chariot dra^vn by four captive kings. But 
what were these, compared with those glorious angels who 
carried Lazarus into heaven ! What a magnificent creature 
must the soul of a child of God be ! But the acclamations 
of angels over his repentance prove that. A company of 
them may be as near him then as they were to the soul of 
Lazarus — " On wings of golden plumage borne." And near, 
besides, through all his pilgrimage here below ; — all minis- 
tering spirits, the Apostle says, sent forth to minister to 
those who shall be heirs of salvation ; or, as the poet Spenser 
beautifully expresses it, 

" How oft do they their silver bowers leave 
To come to succor those' who succor want, 
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave 
The flitting sky, like flying pursuivant. 
Against foul fiends to aid us militant ! 
They for us fight, they watch and daily ward, 
And their bright squadrons round us plant 
And all for love, and nothing for reward, 
O, why should Heavenly God to us have such regard '** 



YORK. — BUCKLING ON THE ARMOUR. 75 

The reasons -vvhy there is joy among the angels over a 
repentant sinner, was the principal theme. I preached 
again in the evening at New Street Chapel. Well, the 
angels of God were not disappointed ; thirty-live sinners 
repented unto life, and were saved, and ten souls were 
purified. A good beginning. 



Have been received by the stationed Wesleyan ministers 
here, ^^'ith great cordiality ; — the Rev. Daniel Walton, 
superintendent, and his colleagues, Revs. N. Curnoch, C. 
Chetham and Mr. Beach. They sympathised with the state 
of my health, and it was suggested whether it would not be 
prudent to limit my labors to tAvo or three services a week. 
I replied, no ; I would rather rest a while altogether than 
ri^k a defeat by half measures ; that, if an effort for a 
revival be not made in an entire abandonment of self to God 
and the work, live or die, it will not amount to much ; — 
Satan will undo in the intervals, much that has been done. 
If a mason or carpenter leave off work a few days, lie finds 
his work as he left it. If the goldsmith pause in purifying 
his precious metal, he finds the process at the same stage of 
forwardness when he returns to it ; — ^his gold received no 
adulteration or relapse in the interval. Not so the work of 
the Christiiin minister. Hie devil and depravity are too 
active for that ! No ! Half measures would defeat our 
object. The devil and sin would laugh us into public con- 
tempt ! Let us begin with a full blast of the trumpet, and a 
vigorous onset for the salvation of sinners. Let each 
resemble. 



76 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" one of those who 

Have ta'en the giant world 

By the throat, and thrown him ! " 

Wliat Napoleon once remarked on the eve of war is good 
for the present time : " Since we are doomed to war, it will 
be better to plunge into it wholly, than to go but halfway." 
So I advise in the present war for God and souls. 

Is this the valley of diy bones ? Ezek. xxxvii. Is it 
full of them ? and are they very dry ? "What have we to 
fear, if the Spirit of the Lord has set us down in the midst 
of them, causing us to pass by them round about ? " Son 
of man can these bones live ? " — " O, Lord God, thou 
knowest ! " — for they are lifeless, sinewless, skinless, blood- 
less and bleached ! — the most unlikely of all things to per- 
form the functions of living men ! But the prophet prophe- 
sied over tliem as he Avas commanded : " O, ye dry bones, 
hear 3^e the word of the Lord, &c., &c." Soon there was a 
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, 
bone to his bone, and sinews, flesh and skin covered them 
above, but the breath of life was not in them. A cry for 
the breath of God to come from the four winds, and breathe 
upon the slain that they might live, ascended from the lips 
of the prophet. The cry was heard and answered ; breath 
came into the dry bones, and they lived, and stood up upon 
their feet, an exceeding great army ! 

A like cause, will produce a like effect, the world over, — 
even here in the old city of York ! If we preach the 
preaching that God bids us, and as lie halh commanded 
us, with all our might, and with an influence from aboAc 
attending, then there will be " a noise," — Avhich some 



YORK. — BUCKLING ON THE ARMOUR. 77 

folks do not much like, and " a sliaking," that will frighten 
the nice, delicate, reiined, and nervous ones ; but an army 
of living converted souls will be an argument with a thun- 
dershout a( their gates ! Hallelujah ! 

Let us open all our batteries then ; trusting in the power 
of Christ. Let us look for great things ; preach for great 
effects ; expect miglity results. Li being content with little 
things, one is greatly in danger of being disqualified for the 
promotion of a work of magnitude. 

* * -:5 * * 

Let us trust in Him who is " mighty to save." Mists of 
unbelief, ^\'ith many balancings of hopes and fears, are apt 
to shroud beginnings into misty endings ! Faith gropes 
onward in the darkness, and refuses to pause, and at last 
sees and comes out 'neath unclouded skies ! — 

" Zeal and virtue must exist by Faith, 
As soldiers live by courage ! " 

There ishght for the steps of the bold and the courageous ; 
— increasing light if followed at all risks. There is a patli 
that is straightforward. There may be difficulties in it, but 
fervent faith, and the flashings of the sword of truth, will 
make tliem vanish away ; for they are only as so many 
shadows to the eye of faith ; — " Confident and sanguine of 
success, let us go forth conquering and to conquer." Only 
let our confidence be in God, and not in man ; Imt let us 
have confidence. The world is all chances, said one states- 
man to another, on the eve of a great political crisis, and 
ten to one of tlioiu are in favor of tlie man who is not to be 
frightened by anything. I like lh(; sentiment, though not 



78 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

particularly fond of the term " chances," because it seems to 
slur a providence ; but it is true, that ten to one are in 
favor of the man who is not easily frightened by any diffi- 
culties he may have to encounter in the work of soul-saving I 
The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, and our hearts 
be courageous. Would to God, that those words with 
which some of the churches in France commence their 
worship, were inscribed in letters of gold upon the front of 
every Wesley an pulpit in this city ; or, what would be far 
better, in all our hearts ! — " Our help Standeth in the 
Name of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth." Let 
that be our motto. Rollin tells us of a Jerusalem warrior, 
whose banner motto was, " Victory is of God," and with 
that sentiment written on their banners, and burning in their 
hearts, he led forth a handful of men against an Assyrian 
army composed of one hundred and twenty thousand men, 
thirty-two elephants, twenty thousand horse, and thi'ee 
hundred chaiiots of war, overthrew them, and gained a 
great victory — illustrating that fine sentiment : 

" How often hath the strength of Heaven 
To feiD triumphantly been given." 



York was favored mth a good revival last year, under 
the labors of a popular and successful minister, the Rev. 
Mr. Rattenbur}^ But many were left unsaved. Truth 
that does not convert, hardens. I have feared the effects 
of this. A sinner often in conflict mth truth, learns how to 
fight it. Resistance becomes a science, and Satan is master 
teacher! These York sinners called so often to defend 



YORK. — BUCKLING ON THE ARMOUR. 79 

themselves against the onslaughts of truth, may have become 
veterans, like many Americau sinners I have known ; who 
present a front of steel, so to speak, against the weapons of 
the gospel. There was good policy in that triad of laws 
enacted by Lycurgus, which he called Khetra?, one of whicli 
forbade the Lacedemonians to make war often upon tlie 
same enemy, lest they should make them too good soldiers, 
by obliging them, too frequently, to defend themselves ! — a 
policy we dare not carry out towards sinners ; for if we let 
them alone in their sins they will soon be damned in Hell. 
Therefore, we must enter the battle-field for their conver- 
sion, though, in doing so, we may necessitate them to learn 
the dreadful and destructive art of resistance. But a few 
hundreds saved out of every thousand is a consideration ! 
BeHevers have been crying mightil}'^ to God for help. If 
tliey have sent up many prayers for a revival, answers must 
surely come down. When many vjyoors ascend from the 
earth towards heaven, much rain descends from heaven to 
the earth. What goes up is sure to come down ; up in 
prayer, down in blessing. If they arc looking for returns, 
our God will not disappoint them. Those people, far to 
the north, who had not seen the sun for months, climbed 
the highest mountain, the other day, dressed in their best, 
to hail the King of Day; each struggling for the highest 
peak, and vying with the otlier to catch the first glimpse of 
him. Did IVovidence disappoint them ? No ! The glorious 
orb arose, and tlioy rent tlie air with acclamations of J03' : 
"T)io sun appeareth ! tlic sun a})poarclli !" Then tliey kept 
tlie feast with gladness and exceeding joy. York lias no 
mountain, except her mountain-liko IMinster ; but she has 



80 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

her spii'itual mountains, and her Abrahams upon them, 
pleading and watching for the rising of the Sun of 
Eighteousness upon this people, with healing in liis wings. 
York is to have a better fate than Sodom ;— a shower of 
fire not-vyithstanding ! 

Well ! how many " dispatches " from a field where only 
a few skirmishes have occurred, but where the main battle 
has yet to be fought! But it does me good to write to my 

friends at and elsewhere, as well as to hear from thorn 

in return ; — it gives me heart, somehow, and fans the flame 
of holy warfare in my soul ! It is with my friends upon earth 
as with the angels in heaven ; all are ready to rejoice over 
the conversion of sinners. A knowledge of the lower fact, 
stimulates me as the higher ; and there is this advantage, I 
often hear from my friends upon earth by way of letters, 
and otherwise, but not from the angels above. However, I 
doubt not they are ajl around me on this battle-field of 
souls ! 



CHAPTER IX. 

" Take heed unto thyself, and unto thy doctrine." — 1 Tim., iv. 16. 
JOURNAL. 

"V^^^l;^ York, June WtJi. 

f jfc^T. PAUL advises Timothy to look unto himself, and 
%^^ to his doctrine. If necessary for Timothy, how 
^ much more for me ! For -what purpose ? " For 
in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that 
hear thee." A two-fold salvation is contemplated ; that of 
self and that of my hearers ; otherwise the Devil may have 
both parties at last. 

Well, then, I must look to myself, — to my spirit, — 
motives, — desires,— thoughts, — tempers, and the etFccts of 
truth upon my own heart and conduct. For what purpose ? 
" Save thyself," — my own eternal salvation ! What next? 
Must look to my doctrine, — that every sentiment of it may 
be clearly proved by the word of God; m.ust take heed to 
it, — watch its cfTect upon my hearers ; as the physician 
that of his medicines upon his patients; must note down 
the effects. " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life," 
says Paul. There may be too much of the " letter," that 
4* 



82 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

is, of tlie truth tliat convicts and condemns the sinner to 
eternal death; and too httle of the "Spirit," by whose influ- 
ences alone the sinner is quickened into spuitual life, so that 
he will cry for merc}^ ; otherwise it will harden and stupify 
hini more and more — a " death unto death," as the Apostle 
expresses it. I must take the alarm when matters are so, 
and cry aloud for a fresh baptism of the Spirit. I had a 
good day yesterday, and numbers were saved. This often 
happens in the beginning ; after which behevers are tempted, 
and sinners hardened, — "Satan came also among them.*' 
Job i. 6. — -There is reaction now, and then comes the tug 
of war ! How often have I seen it thus, and dwindling 
congregations, tiU the Lord's reaction appears and Satan 
gives way ! 

June \Sth. — ^I was hard upon those " who abound in the 
shadow and ceremony of rehgion, that they may be excused 
from the spiritual hfe and substance," as Baxter remarks,- — 
" who offer him the lips, that the heart may be excused ; 
who, when most zealous, are but serving God, that they may 
be excused from loving him ; who cany an empty gilded 
scabbard, accusing the sword of true religion of a dangerous 
keenness, as a thing more perilous than is necessary for their 
use." Poor souls ! compliment for holiness — semblance for 
reality — the shadow for the substance. There is much of 
this in this old city of churches, or I am mistaken. We 
shall see ! This preaching about knowing the time and 
place of conversion, will tell; some Protestants cannot be 
reached and roused, I find,^without pushing matters to 
extremities ! 

June 19i//.-^The true gospel, when it comes home to 



JOURNAL. 83 

people, is not apt to be liked ; that is, if it come not in word 
only, but also in po^ve^^ The Jews looked for a Messiah- 
one formed in their imagination. But, when the true 
Messiah came, they M'ere not pleased with him ; he became 
a stone of stumbling, and a rock of otiense, to both houses 
of Israel ; — so fares it with religion in our day. — We had a 
good time last night ; some were saved. 

June 20th. — I know the preaching that would win 
hearts without winning souls ; would gain friends without 
making them the fnends of God ; that would secure peace 
and avoid persecution. I am struck with that sentiment of 
one, '*' A sermon that has nothing but some general toothless 
notions, in a handsome dress of words, seldom procures 
otfense or persecution. It is rare that such men's preaching 
is distasteful to carnal hearers, or their persons hated for it. 
But when the Gospel comes to the heart, to do the great 
prevailing work, ah ! then how impatient they are of the 
search and the smart, and presently have done with it !" 
Just so ! But I came, not to win hearts or friends to myself, 
but souls foi> Christ ! Aye ! and herein is developed, what 
I call, life in soul-saving! The work of God advances. 
Praise the Lord ! 

June 21st. — I like that observation of one that a great 
part of a Christian's skill and duty, is to be a good preacher 
to himself! — that two or three sermons a week for others is 
a fair proportion, if so be the preacher reserves two or three 
sermons a day for himself; — that any less, ordinarily, would 
be too little; — he thought it a lawful and gainful way of 
preaching ! — that is, it has this advantage, nobody can ques- 
tion one's call, or deny one a license, or silence one from 



84 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

this preaching to oneself ! — the point being to take care that 
self does not silence self. Indeed ! how many sermons, then, 
ought I to preach to myself, seeing that I preach at the rate 
of half a dozen a week to the people ! 

June 25th. — Caution ! Caution, my soul ! A quality 
with which thou hast never been much overstocked! 
Remember, it is with mind as with iron, when cold it 
requires wisdom and prudence to deal with it ! That advice 
of an old preacher to a young one, that he must not only 
strike the iron when it is hot, but till it is hot, is all very 
well ; but a hand guided by wisdom is needed in the latter 
case. Wlien the iron is red-hot, the smith may mall, 
hammer, and stretch it out at will ; but if the iron is cold, 
he iQust take care, or he will bruise, fracture, or break the 
iron to no good purpose, and weary himself for nothing ! 
Get the people warmed — amoved — melted — or, at least, a 
good heat on, before you set a-going such trip hammers, O 
my soul ! But it is hard to wait ; I must pray for the grace 
of patience, and, for what is more needed than even that, a 
fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. Aye ! that is 
it ! I must get a good heat upon myself, before something 
similar seizes upon my hearers. God have mercy upon me, 
and pardon my shortcomings. 

June 2Qth. — The Lord is saving some daily ; but we look 
that the word of the Lord should be like a fire, and like a 
hammer to break the rock in pieces, before the Lord. Jer. 
xiii. 29. 

Let me note one thing just here : I sometimes imagine 
the heat of the Gospel is often so tempered by my style and 
iEustrations, that it takes some time before it bums ! Is it 



JOURNAL. 85 

not somewhat so just now? Philosophers say the sun 
would bum up our globe, were it not that his rays are tern 
pered by our earth's atmosphere. Collect his rays into the 
focus of a burning-glass, and then see what they will do ! 
Every sermon should be a sort of burning-glass ; — should 
have some focus, or point therein, where the scattered rays 
of truth may collect and concentrate, — to warm the hearts 
of believers, till they say, with those of old, " Did not our 
hearts bukn witliin us, while he talked with us by the way, 
and while he opened to us the Scriptures 1" — or, to set the 
devil's tinder on fire ! 

June 21th. — Our doctrine needs no doctoring. It never 
was sick. Thank God for that ! But sinners are sick, and 
some of them do not know it ; others are sick, and know it ; 
both classes need doctoring, something to make them know 
and feel their disease ; and medicine for those who both know 
and feel it! So "the cure of souls " is not a meaningless or 
an imaginary term, though to some it is, I fear. Lord 
help me. 




CHAPTER X. 

WISE FOR BOTH WORLDS. 

Jane dOtJi. 
HEN at Hull, a few weeks since, a brother received 



^/^f the following letter ; thinking that I knew some- 
thing of the parties, I requested a copy, which is 
as follows : 

" Sheffield, June 6, 1815. 
"Mr. R II. Hull. 

" Dear Sir : It is with deep sorrow I have to inform you 
of the death of your friend, and my brother, William. He 
had only arrived from London on Saturday, and was to all 
appearance in perfect health when he retired to rest last 
night. He complained of restlessness about three o'clock, 
and desired Mrs. W. to ijiake him a httle senna tea ; when 
she came up stairs she thought he had composed himself to 
sleep, and did not like to disturb him, and did not find out 
that he was dead until about five o'clock ; when you may 
judge, but I cannot describe, her grief and aflHiction. My 
brother had assured his life for one thousand pounds, and 
only received the policy yesterday morning, and, I believe, 
one of the last letters he wrote was to acknowledge the 
receipt of it. When he got it, speaking to his wife, he said, 



WISE FOR BOTH WORLDS. 87 

' Now, Polly, if I should die to-morrow, you will be provided 
ft)r.' Never was a speech more fatally prophetic. I am 
sure you will sympathise with us under this awful visitation, 
and trust you will never receive another such sad epistle 
from liis sorrowing: brother. 

" J. N., Jk." 

A few days ago, 1 received the following letter, which 
explains my impression when at Hull, that I must have 
known something of the parties. The letter is from an 
excellent servant of God in Sheffield, a Wesleyan leader 
and local preacher, and it is all so very good, I think it is 
Avorthy a place in my journal. Names are given in full ; but 
perhaps it may be better to retain the initials only. 

" Sheffield, June 19, 1845. 

" Rev. Sir : My soul is happy ; body and soul strong ; 
— enjoying the activities of religious and social life, and the 
l)lessings of a happy domestic life. The Lord is very good 
to me. ]My classes are increasing in numbers, and a majority 
of the members have clean hearts. 

" The revival is still going on ; your late visit did us good. 
I never saw our people more united and loving ; and while 
this spirit continues the revival is sure to go on. Should 
like to hear from you soon. Let me know particulars as to 
your health, and where you are likely to labor next. If not 
very far from Sheffield, I should like to join you frequently, 
and do all the ^rood I can, and T know I should get good. I 
lost about 20 lbs. of flesh in the special services here last 
year, and w;is nil the better foi- it ; getting it back too fast, 



88 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

I fear ; happiest by far, and in my proper element, when in 
the thick of the battle. It is a most glorious strife, 

"I also write to inform you of the sudden ^death of IMr. 
W. N., the junior partner of the firm, J. N. & Sons, 
Merchant Cutlers, Meadow Street, Sheffield, which took 
place on the morning of the 6tli instant. The deceased, 
W. N., was in the thirty-first year of his age, of strong and 
athletic form, enjoying almost uninterrupted good health, of 
a cheerfid disposition, and highly esteemed-for his moral 
worth by all who had the happiness of being aUied to him 
or acquainted with him. His wife is the daughter of a 
clergyman of the Established Church, of which both were 
members and communicants. 

" On the 13th of June, 1 844, a gentleman from Hull invited 
Mr. and Mrs. N. to hear you preach. They both consented, 
stating, however, their prejudices against you, owing to the 
strange reports about your style of preaching. However, 
they went. Your text was, " How long halt ye between 
two opinions ? If the Lord he God follow him ; but if Baal, 
then follow him. And the people answered him not a 
word.'' The word reached their hearts. They were botli 
awakened. Mr. N. turned to his wife and said, " I can't 
stand this ; I must go do\\Ti, and join those who are seeking 
mercy." Mrs. N. said she would go too ; their friend from 
Hull went with them into the Band Room, where they knelt 
and prayed for mercy. I spoke with them both, instructed, 
encouraged, and prayed with them. ]\Irs. N. obtained 
pardon ; but her husband went away witliout the blessing. 

"However, on Sabbath evening, 23d of June, 1844, while 
hearing you preach from that text, " This year thou shalt 



WISE FOR BOTH WORLDS. 89 

die,'' God spoke peace to the soul of Mr. N. He and IMi-s. 
N. attended your Meeting for the New Converts, and 
returned thanks for God's mercy. Agreeable to the advice 
given to all that evening, they continued their connection 
■with the church to which they belonged, holding fast faith 
and a ^ood conscience, and witnessing a good confession. 

"In the beginning of May, 1845, Mr. N. went to London 
on business. AXHiile there a friend spoke to him on the 
advantages of Life Insurances, and advised him to make 
provision for his family. Mr. N. acted upon the advice, and 
effected an insurance upon his life for one thousand pounds 
sterling in the Providence Life Insurance Office. He 
returned home on the 1st inst., in good health, attended to 
his busineis as usual up to Thui'sday evening 5th ; on the 
morning of which day he received from London the policy 
of insurance, and the last act in his counting-room that 
evening was to write a letter acknowledging the reception 
of the policy. The orders obtained during his journey were 
all entered up, and his books posted and balanced ; — 
indeed, full preparation was made in every respect, as if he 
had kno^\^l before what was to take place. 

" About half-past seven in the evening, he and his brother 
walked in the garden, gathered some sallad for supper, of 
whiqh he partook ; visited his father's house, and affection- 
ately embraced his sister, who with her father, has just 
returned from a long journey. He then went home, and 
retired to rest. Along in the night he complained of a kind 
of numbness, but no pain, yet sufficiently annoying by a 
tiupding sensation, as to prevent sleep. He requested Iiis 
wife to procure some medicine down stairs. On her return, 



90 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

she thought he was asleep ; his head lay upon his arm on 
the pillow, and the other hand stretched out, grasping the 
hand of their infant child. Slie felt sure he was asleep, and 
concluded not to disturb him ; so she also went to sleep. 
About five o'clock in the morning Mrs. N. awoke, tried to 
rouse her husband, and found him cold and dead, lying 
exactly in the same position when she thought he was 
asleep. I will not attempt to describe her anguish, nor that 
of the family ; you may imagine it. 

*^A corner's inquest was held on the 7th inst., and by 
adjournment to the 10th. A post mortem examination, in 
presence of Surgeon W. L. and Mr. H., professional chemist. 
Brain and vitals were all perfectly sound, except a slight 
inflammation of the upper part of the bowels and, stomach, 
but not likely to cause either pain or death. The contents 
of the stomach and bowels were carefully analyzed, applying 
every test for the discovery either of mineral or vegetable 
poisons, but none were found. Both the medical men and 
coroner declared that they had never met with a more 
singular case than this during the whole course of their 
experience. Both they and the jury being fully satisfied 
with the evidence adduced, an unanimous verdict was 
returned, ' That the deceased JNIr. N. was found dead in 
bed, in his o-\\ti dwehing-house, having, in tlie opinion of tlie 
jury, died from natural causes, and not otherwise.' Mr. N. 
has three children behind him. He was one of the most 
amiable of my acquaintances. I have spent many happy 
liours in his father's house and amongst his relatives, most 
of whom arc Wesleyans, and four of them members of my 
classes. 



WISE FOR BOTH WORLDS. 91 

''I thank God that our deceased friend ceased to ' Halt 
hetioeen two opinions ;' and hj embracing the right one he 
acted as one fully beheving the message, * This year thou 
shalt die.' 

" I heard Eev. jMi*. ]M. preach his funeral sermon on the 
15th inst., from Kom. viii. 23. An excellent discourse, right 
to the heart, and felt by his hearers. He said his brother 
had that first fruit of the Spirit, or rather the Spirit itself, 
■witnessing to his adoption ; yet he carefully concealed the 
where, when, and how he obtained this ; prudent, per- 
haps, on the whole ; and I hope good was done. 

"Do let me hear from you soon. I have not forgotten 
the request, ' Sometimes pray for me.' This, I believe, you 
do for us, and for me your unworthy yet affectionate 
brother in Clirist, 

" John Levick." 

A remarkable event this, surely. O, I remember that 
night, on ^^ This year thou shalt die;'' and the emotions 
tliat swayed my soul ! He had then but eleven months and 
seventeen days to Hve. While the decision of Heaven was 
falhng upon his ears, he was pardoned through faith, and 
sealed T\dth eternal redemption. Blessed be God! But what 
a flickering taper is Imman life ! And yet how men will risk 
their everlasting all upon its continuance. Our departed 
friend was wiser than this ; and wise, besides, for both 
worlds ! Happy man ! Happy escape from a world of sin ! 
Comfort his disconsolate widow, O Lord. ]5c unto her a 
hus])and, and to her fatherless children, a father. Isaiah 
liv. 5. I*salms Ixvili. 5. Jer. xlix. 11. Amen! 



CHAPTER XI. 

LIFE IN PREACHING. 

July 2d. 
^ A SEE, O, I see, and feel, too, that the truth must 




never be separated from the life, if one is to expect 
success. Jesus says, " / am the way, the truth, 
and the life." Precious words, and important ! He could 
not have been a jperfect Saviour, had any one of these been 
disjoined from his character and mission. 

But a Gospel, defective in any one of these, is not the 
Gospel which has the promise of the attending power of 
God. Rom. i. 16. Let it be defective as to the way, or 
the truth, or life, and one might well be ashamed of both it 
and self. But without the life, that is, the unction from 
above, the presence and power of the Spirit, what avail the 
icay, and the truth ! O, for more life. There are tokens of 
good at Newtown Row ; but, O, for more of this life. 
What am I but as a sounding brass and tinkling sym])ol 
without it ; O, for more life. 

July ^th. — How intolerable are certain departments of 
preaching to some ! Sa\ entire change of nature, or eternal 



LIFE IX FIIPLVCHING. 93 

banishment from God ! " Not a change in one, or two, or 
twenty particnhirs, but in the whole soul !" The straight 
crate of regeneration and the narrow^ way, the feet of the 
soul in it and the face towards the heaveuly city! Not 
stepj)ing out of one path into another, as Baxter remarks, 
the face all the A\'hile keeping on in the old road to hell. 
No ! but to be turned clear round, quite in another direc- 
tion ! Aye ! that is it ! And some received the truth, and 
were saved. 

July 1th. — Preaching that has life, and fire, and serious- 
ness in it, mightily convinces. The dead, the cold, the 
ti-itling feel it, are aroused by it, are convinced by it, that it 
belongs to a religion that is a reality. 

But mark this, if they are disinclined to be saved, and 
still love that from wliich they were aroused, they will 
oppose ; that is, if the preaching diminishes not in life, fire, 
and seriousness. Life quickens, fire burns, seriousness lays 
on, and presses do^^^l the seal, and makes an impression 
tliat is burned into the conscience, as Jby fire. Then are the 
thoughts of many liearts revealed. Aye, and the depravity 
and enmity, too! Peace is broken, and friendship, and 
respect. " ^Yhat will this babbler say ?" But keep on my 
soul, M'ith life, and fire, and seriousness. Amen. 

Jiihj lOt/i. — AVlietlier I have success or not, it is good to 
be cheerful : — clieerful faith. Tliat is it ! It is a point of 
pliil(;sophy with me, as well as tlieology. But my reli- 
gion and temperament have much to do with it ; — aye, and 
principle and conscience. I know llic woi-ld I live in. 1 
shall n(;t allow it to suspect I serve a liard JMastcf. No, 
indeed. 



94 GLIMPSBS OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

July Wih. — ^Power increases. The people are stirred 
and warmed. I am looking around for larger and weightier 
truth. I like that idea of Baxter, that straw and little 
sticks may make the quickest and the lightest blaze ; but 
will not make a durable fire, like the bigger fuel ! A good 
thought that, and worthy to be remembered ! Yet, my 
good old friend, Baxter ! " little sticks " may be needful in 
kindling ! and one is glad of them, sometimes ; when there 
tliere is much green wood and wet wood and the fire is 
low ; and one is like Paul on the island of Melita, wet — 
and cold, too ! Glad was Paul, just out of the breakers, 
and drenched from head to foot, to lay hold of any thing 
that was combustible ! A fire was needed ! A larger blaze 
than the folks in the island had kindled, who were too busy, 
perhaps, scanning Paul and his dripping companions ! And 
60 Paul '''•gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the 
Jire,'' and soon had a blaze ! Too hot, indeed, for the viper, 
but very comfortable to those who wanted it. The viper 
fastened upon Paul's hand, and criticism or suspicion upon 
his character, — " no doubt,'' the man is so and so, and 
" vengeance " will not suffer him to live I That was poor 
busy Paul's reward ! But the Lord Avas there, who pro- 
tected Paul. The viper was flung into the fire, and opinions 
were revolutionized ! Acts xxviii. 3, 4, 5. 

Well, shipwrecked Paul was not able to carry a large 
tree or heav}'^ timber to the fire, but what he could, — only 
a bundle of sticks. Very well ! He laid them on the fire, 
and made a blaze of them ! So, if weightier matter be 
beyond my ability, just now, I must use the lighter kind. 
Paul's "bundle of sticks" were as truly wood as the large 



LIFE IX PREACHING. 95 

trees ; smaller truths may be as much Gospel truths as the 
Aveightiest truths Avielded by the sons of thunder. Paul's 
" bundle of sticks " made a quicker blaze, and brighter fire, 
for his half-drowned fellow passengers, than if he had 
brought a back-load of heavy logs ; they were rolled 
on afterwards, doubtless, to keep the fire a-going ! Ah ! 
me ! such is revival Hfe ! But whither is my pen running ! 
July 12th. The work of holiness is taking deep hold of 
the hearts of the people. Persons long convicted for the 
blessing, but bafi[led by unbeUef, are receiving clearer views 
of the way of faith. The Friday night discourses are 
AA-orkmg Avonders ; salvation by faith ! Purity of heart by 
faith. Acts xv. 9. And if by faith, why not now ? A 
startling question ! If by works, then some time in the 
future. But that is not the Gospel, " Not of ivoi'ks, lest any 
man should boost,'' says Paul. " Sanctified by faith that is in 
in mc" said Jesus to him, when a Saul of Tarsus. He 
remembered that \ But many sincere souls do every thing 
possible to obtain the blessing, excepting to believe ; — 
'''•Believe that ye receive, and ye shall have.'' Mark xi. 24. 
Ikit they refuse, because they cannot feel that they receive ; 
and so all their efforts fail and fall into disjointed confu- 
sion, like an arch without the keystone. Believing is tlie 
keystone. 

," 'Tis the last keystone 
Tliat makes tlie arch. The rest tliat there are put 
Are nothing, till that comes to bind and shut. 
Then, stands it, a tiiumphal mark." 

July llth. — I liavc always abhorred tediousncss in tlie 



96 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

pulpit ; and am I doomed to that vice ? Heaven forbid ! 
Beware of it, O, my soul ! Shun it as thou wouldst the 
plague — ^for it is a plague to hearers ; say what thou hast 
to say, and have done mth it ! Prolixity is brother to per- 
versity. Tediousness is trjdng to a hearer as perverseness. 
God forbid I should fall into this vice as I grow old ; but it 
is unpardonable in a young man, totally unfit for revival 
effort or soul-saving life ! To be sure it is ! A heav}^, 
tedious style for nimble sinners is like setting the South 
American three-yards-an-hour Sloth to hunt down a herd 
of wild horses whose speed outstrips the winds of heaven ! 
Or, as if one would start an Enghsh Snail to catch the 
nimble hare ! No ! no ! these animals want something as 
swift and as nimble as themselves to catch them ! And so 
do these York sinners ! I see that ! Firstly, secondly, 
thirdly, with their quiet and steady paced subs, are all very 
well sometimes ; but when I want to run down sinners I 
have to go over them all at a jump, and dash in among the 
ungodly, bold as the South American hunter among a herd 
of wild horses, lasso in hand ! The cord with its noose 
flashing around with the swiftness of Hghtning ! 

Afternoon. — Beware, my soul ! The livelier the manner 
the weightier should be the truth ; so liable am I to 
extremes ! Exuberance of fancy, and vividness of imagina- 
tion need a good deal of Mr. 's ponderosity. Gravity, 

point, weighty truth ; or, alas ! *it is but to beat the air or 
to amuse the people as a player ! 

Let me carry this thought into the pulpit with me, next 
to the thought, I have God for a hearer ; this, when the 
matter is grave, serious, weighty, then loveHness of manner 



LIFE IN PREACHING. 97 

secures attention, and prepares the way for its acceptance 
and success. Lord Jesus, I am but a cliild ! Teach thou 
me thyself. But what business have I in the pulpit with 
any other matter tlian that which is grave, serious, weighty. 
Henceforth, may tliese never be separated from liveliness of 
manner. Amen. 




CHAPTER XII. 



SPIRITUAL TACTICS IN YORK, 



>OUR friend is looking around him for advantages 
against Satan ; for St. Paul tells him Satan is 
ever ready to take advantage of him. It is good 
generalship to be able to select proper vantage ground in 
the j)resenee of the enemy ; but great generalship to seize 
upon such advantages, as the battle waves and drifts to and 
fro over the field ! Depend upon it the battle begins to wax 
hot. We have counted the cost, and are fairly in for 
victory, through the help of Heaven. Souls are being 
rescued from the devil daily. You may expect particulars 
by-and-by. 

****** 
We are storming -the works of darkness. Sinners are 
grumbling, of course ; they stay away in contempt, some 
do ; but others come in their places, live for one — Hallelu- 
jah! 



I 



SPIRITUAL TACTICS IX YORK. 99 

I was cheered to-day with these observations of a 
writer, that the truth fears nothing more than inattention ; 
it is too important to be treated with indilference ; that 
opposition calls forth and sharpens the powers of the human 
mind in its defence ; the Gospel is a gainer by investiga- 
tion. Credulity is its bane. The sound poHcy of the deist 
is to let it alone, and leave it to itself Opposition from the 
world propagated it originally. At length that opposition 
ceased. Tlie great ones of the world smiled upon it, — 
patronized it, — fostered it — betrayed it. ' And what was the 
result ? All waiters testify that a worse than an Egyptian 
darkness of ignorance and delusion, soon overspread Christen- 
dom. Truthful remarks ! Well, let this cheer me, I am not 
endangered by the smiles of the great ones of this world ! 
Nor is rehgion in my hands likely to suffer from that 
quarter. It is well for me that it is so, doubtless. My 
hardy soul might melt and grow effeminate in such sunshine. 
One's faith is all the more robust for having frowning cir- 
cumstances around, and a sharp ^vintry wind in its face ! 

" The Oak strikes deeper as its boughs 
By furious blasts are driven ; 
So life's vicissitudes the more 

Have fix'd luv heart on Heaven !" 



I had a free day 3'estcrday. IVIy words were rough 
materials for delicate ears. Ihit an unction from above 
molted down both material and hearers ; and now ;uul 
then "something of the graceful draper}' feeling Avears ;" 
but not -(» nmch a< to dazzle sinners into admiration of the 



100 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

truth, or the preacher, or themselves for having the taste 
and intelligence to appreciate oratoiy ! alas ! instead of 
hating their sins and themselves for committing them. There 
may be much of this going forward under what is called 
" eloquent preaching." We had sixty or seventy souls saved 
yesterday. York is looking up ! Glory be to God. 
****** 
June has fled away and carried good news into Heaven ; 
and now July is on the wing ; and I am endeavoring to 
load it with glad tidings for the skies. O, hoAv good it is to 
make some returns to these good angels, who said : " Behold, 
we bring you good tidings of great joy.'' But what better 
tidings do they wish to hear, than that of sinners repenting 
unto life. 

^ ^ ^ ¥^ ^ 

My " notes " from the field of conflict must necessarily 

be short, but they will afford you and my friends in 

some idea of hfe in soul-saving ! 

Samson felt for the pillars whereupon the Philistines' 
temple stood. I have been feeling lately for some of the 
pillars upholding the fabric of Satanic power, and have, 
besides, been digging in search of the foundation hopes of 
professors ; great searchings of heart among them. There is 
no use in beginning to build up where there should be 
a pulling down. " Te must he horn again" Nehemiah, 
when rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, found that the 
strength of the hearers of hurdens was decayed., — that there was 
much rubbish, so that thei/ were not able to build • and adver- 
saries besides, who criticised the work, and threatened. 
Neh. iv. In every revival effort there is much strength and 



SPIRITUAL TACTICS IN YORK. 101 

time expended upon the foundations of Zion — the walls are 
decayed, or are battered down by sin, Satan, and back- 
sliding. Tliey must be razed to the foundations, and the 
rubbish removed out of the way. The difficulty must be 
coped with, or one builds but upon the sand, and daubs with 
untempered mortar. 



War ! war ! war ! O, what a life of warfare does that 
minister choose when he determines to have scores and 
hundreds of sinners converted — slain by the Spirit's sword 
wherever he preaches. * It is a war against the world, the 
flesh and the devil. He needs to have a brow hardened to 
adamant, and a face set steadily against opposition as a flint. 
The Lord told Jeremiah not to be dismayed at their faces, 
lest he should confound him before them. But there was no 
superfluity, nor hyperbole in figure, when he promised 
to make him as a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and a 
brazen wall against kingly, princely, priestly, and common- 
alty opponents, leagued together for his overthrow : for all 
these combined were not able to prevail against the faithful 
prophet. The iron pillar and brazen wall stood erect 
amidst the ruins of their fearful overtlirow! Jer. i. 17 — 19. 
O, Lord God of hosts, thou knowest how unworthy I am of 
the honor of thy protection and deliverance, or even to 
strive and do battle for thee and for thy Son, Jesus Christ, 
my I^rd. A poor, weak, sinful worm„ saved and purified 
by grace ; who can never lay aside weighty, personal argu- 
ments for unfamed humility before Tliec. Ikil I would be, 
— yes, I would be — 



102 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" Sagacious, prudent, enterprizing, bold, 
De term in '(J, firm, assidious, sincere, 
Unaw'd by menace, and unbrib'd by gold ; 
The Cross and Jesus be my only theme. 
Set free from ev'ry earth-born wish and care, 
While kindling ardors fire my soul for Him 
Wiiom cherubs call, ' The Everlasting Fair.' 




CHAPTER XIII 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



Y JOURNALIZING has been irregular of late. 
/^^^ But I have taken care to " Gather up the frag- 
ments" of "pulpit thoughts ;" so that were I to 
set about it, I could give a pretty good account of the most 
important of them ; those especially which did some execu- 
tion ! Among these I would place unpremeditated thoughts, 
— that is, not prepared in mind or manuscript previously, — 
not purposed or intended ; but which upon occasions in the 
pulpit, come rushing into my soul as " a sound from heaven,'' 
'• — glowing as if baptized with fire, — stirring it to the depths, 
— rousing its powers like a spark falling upon gunpowder. 
These seldom fail. Their effects are wonderful. I speak 
now of a certain class of thoughts. But there are others 
which require different figures to illustrate them. They are 
thoughts with a certain freshness or fragrance about them, 
as if they had just come from paradise ! It may be only a 
pleasing fancy, but I call them my birds of paradise ! happy- 



104 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVIXG. 

hearted, soul-enlivening visitnnts, — small and great, endless 
in shapes and colors, as poets sing ; — free denizens of the 
skies. Then, O then, how easy to bathe and wash the sub- 
ject with one's tears ! and ho.w many, on such occasions, 

" Taste the grace that found out me ! " 

Tliese are the thoughts that come unexpected; birds of 
paradise ! glorious >asitants ! free as the birds which float 
or flit around the ]\Iinster, omng allegiance to no " skeleton " 
cage ! You understand me ! up and away, bearing the mind 
on wings aloft, soaring in track of God sublime, — 



The clouds and sky about them ringinf 



And then, their sweet returnings, nearer to human kind, 
bearing intelligence, — full of appHcatiori and of the spirit 
and intent of the occasion, — 

" Alighting here, ascending there, 
Ranging and revelling everywhere/' 

till there is a shout among the sons and daugliters of 
Zion ! My birds increase,-— power increases, with a jubilee 
of gladness ! O, how they glisten, and flit and sing, like 

" The free tenants of land, air, and ocean, 
Their forms all symmetry, their motions grace ; 
In plumage delicate, and beautiful, 
Thick without burden, close as fishes scales. 
Or loose as full-blown poppies to the breeze. 
With wings that might have had a soul within them, 
They bore their owners with such sweet enchantment. 
Of these a few with melody uutaught 
Turn'd all the air to music within iieariug, 
Themselves unseen ! " 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. . 105 

Aye ! " Their forms all sjTnmetry, and their motions 
grace ! " but much the worse for my handling ! However, 
they answer a heavenly purpose notwithstanding the awk- 
wardness of the " birdster !" It is no easy matter to be 
graceful always, in catching these sweet paradisiacal visitors, 
— or to have an inward ear, clear and curious enough, as a 
poet speaks, to disentangle the maze of voices, and so nice 
a mental eye to single out each minstrel and pursue his 
labyrinth of song, till one feels '' every vibration of his little 
throat ; every pulse of his heart, and every flutter of his 
pinions ! O, but then, when one is able to do so, what sig- 
nificance there is to my birds of paradise ! St. Paul, you 
remember, says, '* There are, it may be, so many kinds of 
voices in the world, and none of them is without bignifica- 
tion ;" — " So many kinds of languages," says Clarke ; but 
wliy did St. Paul put, " it may be," before what was as 
certain in his day as ours ? — perhaps so many dilferent 
somids, accents, inflections, pronunciations, articulations, 
— which are as so many voices, — to comprehend the signi- 
fications of which would be essential to the understanding 
of the language ? Was that his meaning ? O, well, it is 
not essential to the point ; but there are many voices 
ringing through my soul in times of revival, resolving 
themselves into thought and speech, and none of them, " it 
may be, Ax-ithout signiflcation." To understand them, and 
tlmnder their meaning into the ears of my fellow-men is 
often the stirring business of tlio liour ! 

Well, you have found out by this letter that I am sweetly 
happy to-day ; and so I nm ; and many others besides, in 
York, who were lately the vNTctched children of the de\'il ! 



106 GLIMi'SES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

This is a longer letter than usual ; and really, I have 
yet scarcely done ! A poet speaks of 

" Bolder quiresters 
On loftiest branches, straining their clarion-pipes, 
Making the forest echo to their screams 
Discordant ! " 

Aye ! these bold quiresters are my pulpit visitants also ; 
" screams discordant," — yes ! for although I seldom or ever 
scream, yet these scream an alarm for Zion in every soul, 
and my voice and manner, O, what shall I say ? — discordant 
enough, — grating wildly upon delicate ears ; " clarion-pipes 
and screams discordant," reiterated, after a sort, and 
echoing wide through a human forest of thousands ! 

Fearful thoughts! O, how they roll over my soul at 
such a time ! Not paradisiacal thoughts, these ! Not birds 
of paradise I No ! They are all called forth by the 
mighty God, or the Angel of his presence, from regions too 
dismal and joyless to mistake them ; but they are necessary, 
dark, raven-winged, foreboding, and harsh as the screech- 
owl, betokening calamity and death ; others, the tempest- 
loving kind, beating against stress of weather ; storm-birds 
of misfortune, as the Germans name them — calling from 
afar : '^Prepare to meet thy God, O sinner /" Then descends 
the storm, — thunder and lightning and wind and rain, — 
truth with its thunder tones and bolts and hghtning. And 
then a tempest of sighs, groans and wailings from beneath, 
and cries for mercy, and tears hke rain — and victory over 
all the powers of hell and unbelief ! Victory through the 
blood of the Lamb ! Hallelujah ! Such is life in soul- 
savins: ! — mv life in York ! 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. 107 

For all God's mercies, I would still be praising Him ; 
but for the liigli pri^dlege of extemporaneous preaching, and 
freedom from the tranmaels of sermon-reading, I would raise 
my i\ote of thanksgiving very high. Through Plis help I 
escaped from the temptation to use, and then from the 
necessity of using, even a sketch before me in the Bible ! 
That ended on the Christmas Day of 1836, in Plattsburgh, 
state of Xew York ; but not till after a long and conflicting 
dialogue with myself and something else upon my knees, 
with appeals to God. Then away flew the crutches! 
True, I make preparation for the pulpit, write largely ; but 
I never allow the manusciipt, or even a sketch before me in 
the pulpit, excepting when I was in Hull, as a legal defence 
against reporters, who were stealing my sermons to print 
and sell for gain. The extemporaneous style has its disad- 
vantages and imperfections, I admit, but they are greatly 
overbalanced by the mighty advantage of liberty, — freedom 
to follow the Spirit, to seize and appropriate those emana- 
tions from above — those birds of paradise, aye, and storm- 
birds — the " tempest-loving," and the " raven-winged," the 
"clarion piped," and the "harsh-discordant," shrill as the 
wading-bird of South America ! O, but I would not forego 
these advantages for all the Avealth of tlic East and the 
West ! May my spiritual ear and my heart ever be open unto 
them ; and may I have a ready tongue to give utterance to 
their welcome notes when they come. 

If you enquire, " Wliat becomes of your birds of para- 
dise, and those from less joyful regions ?" I re])]y, if time 
permit, I drop dowTi in tlio pulj)It after preaching, or during 
prayer meeting, and " cage them ;" that is, note tliem down 



108 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

in my note-book, or journalize them on my return to my 
lodgings, or enter them into m.y common place volumes for 
some future occasion, else they are apt to take wing like 
other birds ; then, in that case, they are not on hand when 
wanted, and Memory has no charm to recall them ! She 
has learned the lesson once hinted to Shakspeare's hero, who 
boasting that he could " call up the spirits from the vasty 
deep," one present replied, " And so could /, but will they 
come f But memory can command them from these cages, 
and they come ! 

When a school-boy I was mightily pleased with one 
sentence in my lesson, an old proverb, " A bird in the 
hand is worth two in the bush !" for it taUied so exactly 
with my experience and great toils in laying hoops and 
snares to catch the fugitives ! And do I find it with these 
pulpit visitants ! Wliat was censurable with respect to one 
sort of birds, is praiseworthy towards these ! But it is 
written, " Every fowl after his hind, and every bird of every 
sort, went in unto Noah into the Ark ;" and with these he 
peopled the new world, when it emerged from under the 
floods. And from these, my spiritual aviaries, I am 
enabled often to people many a sermon, — " Where the birds 
make their nests, and where the fowls of the heaven have their 
habitation, which sing among the branches y Ps. civ. 12. 17. 
However, some of these pulpit visitants are so swift-winged, 
or of so strong a pinion, they escape from me, and return no 
more ; as if sent to answer some special design, and to 
return again to Him that sent them out on their errand of 
mercy or of warning ! 

Account for tliose thoughts as we may, it is well to make 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. 109 

the most of such helps. Youth hastens away, and prime 
ruslies into decline. The imagination loses its vividness and 
readiness of conception as we advance in Hfe. Fancy 
iiags, genius becomes inexpert ; the mind grows inert, 
and sympathizes with the decaying body. • The memory 
needs help ; it cannot recall of itself, the brilliant thoughts 
of youthful vigor. It wants help from the note-book, or 
journal, or common place book, or "sermon plan." The 
bivds in the cage that sang so sweetly in other days are 
ready to sing again, rendering the " old man's ministry " as 
vigorous and refreshing as ever. With others it is far from 
being so, even while the health remains good. Why is it 
that some minds become superannuated so much earlier than 
others ? I know there are other reasons, but in the majority, 
I fancy the fact may be traceable to this neglect. Is it not 
•wisdom, therefore, to secure these visitants of our youth and 
prime, that they may be our resource and succor in our 
declining years ! 

As to myself my call is peculiar, somewhat like my field, 
l^t me be vigorous, and " play the man," as Bramwell used 
to say, long as I can, or as God permits ; and, then, sink at 
last into obscurity, or into the grave, with as good a grace 
as possible. My health seems to totter. What remains 
must be used. I dare not retreat from such scenes as these. 
Tliat remark of Flavel, if I remember right, once struck me 
ver}' forcibly, " If our health was less precious in our own 
sight, it might be more precious in the sight of the Lord !" 
Very true, and yet one may be imprudent nnd he punislicd for 
it. C), for more of the wisdom from jibove. 

It i- now An;:au-1, and we can form a good judgment of 



110 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVTXG. 

the work in York. We commenced, you remember, about 
tlie middle of June. It has been ascertained that about 
three hundred have been converted from the world, and 
over one hundred sanctified. Besides these, some sixty or 
seventy members of Wesleyan and ether churches of city 
and country have been born again, or reclaimed. All glory 
be to God alone ! He doeth the works. Let us sound the 
trumpet to his glory alone, and hide ourselves in the dust. 
Amen ! Jesus is precious ! May his smiles be your 
sunshine ! * 



* NoTK BY THE EDITOR. — Here end our extracts from Mk. Caughkt's Journal 
and Letters for the present. The reader will find the remainder in Part II. of 
this volume. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE S U J? E FOUNDA.TIO N. A SERMON. 

" A sure foundation." — Isaiali xxviii. IG. 



HE whole verse reads thus : " Therefore thus saith 
'^^'^^^ the Lord GocV ^Yhsit an exordium is that! — 
^ ^ showing the importance of what is to follow ! 
" Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, 
a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation : he that believeth 
shall not make haste.'' AVhat glorious intimations are here ! 
HoAv God himself \1 speak with reverence] seems to labor 
for terms, — as if he would set this " stone " in jewelry \ as 
if at a loss, — as if dissatisfied with human language, — as if 
that of Heaven only were sufficient, to honor a title belong- 
ing to a Name that is above every name, in eartli beneath 
or Heaven above ! Ikit we adore ! We understand thee, 
O Lord God of Israel ! We adore Him who is the l)rlght- 
nes8 of thy glor}-, and the express image of thy person. 
"We adore the inclfuble name of thy Son, our Lord ! Vsq 
wouhl fill tlii< tcni})l(' of thine with llic melody of our v<)ices ; 



112 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

— yea, all earth and Heaven, were it in our power, with the 
triumphant song of our adoring souls — 

" Join all the glorious names 
Of wisdom, love, and power, 
That ever mortals knew, 
That angels ever bore ; 
All are too mean to speak his worth, 
Too mean to set our Saviour forth ! " 

But let us proceed. 

n. That which is of the first imporfance, that which 
passers by seldom think of, but without which the noblest 
edifice would be but a splendid folly, — is what ? — what else 
but a sure foundation ? But everybody knows that ! We 
need not waste time in telling people that! — architects 
know that, and so does everybody in the land ! 

Well, then, hearken ! — ^that which is of the first import- 
ance, that which many seldom think of, but that without 
which the fairest moral character [so far as eternal safety 
is concerned] would be but a splendid folly,— is, a sure 
foundation ! Jesus Christ is that foundation ; regeneration 
makes that foundation our own. But of what use is a 
foundation that is never reached ? never built upon ? And 
of what use is Christ, as a foundation, if we make no proper 
use of him? 

Our Lord himself tells us of two men who began to build, 
each a house for himself. One of them built his liouse upon 
the sand; and him he named "a foolish man;" and the 
sequel proved it ! The other built his house upon a rock ; 
him he named " a wise man ;" and the sequel proved that, 
also ! 



THE SURE FOUNDATION^. 113 

"^^^lat a contrast in tlieir foundations I what a contrast 
in their history. Think of this, for I may refer to it again. 
But such contrasts are still "w-itnessed in our da3\ Not, 
indeed, in the erecting of material edifices. No, indeed ! 
men have better sense than to build them on shifting sands ; 
but in selecting foundations for their eternal hope. Every 
man has -within his breast a hope of getting to Heaven at 
last. Now, that hope rests upon either an insecure or 
a sure foundation. Is he building his hope on Christ, 
or upon something else ? morality, virtue, honesty, church- 
going, and other things ; or lias his conscience found a 
resting-place on Christ ? 

III. j\Iark what I am going to say : Christ, as a founda- 
tion, implies repentance, faith, pardon and regeneration ; all 
that must be gone through, before it can be said : Christ 
has become to you, a sure foundation ! You may talk much 
about Christ, profess his name, and say you believe in him ; 
but you may be building on the sand all tlie while ; and if 
you are building on the sand, a tenable ruin awaits you. 
Jesus tells us that the man who built upon the sure founda- 
tion, " Digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock.'' It 
was not easy come at ; he had to dig deep. And thus it is 
with those who would reach Christ, as a foundation ; they 
have to dig deep, through many an encumbrance, habit and 
dithculty, before their poor burdened souls and bleeding 
consciences repose in Christ. 

rV. And this may explain to some [who wonder, but 
who I liope will not " wonder and perish,''~\ the phenomena 
Bo constantly occurring in tliis woik of (ilod; tlie s.)])S 
and prayers, and tears, and cries for mercy ; aye, and 



114 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. . 

joyful exclamations, when the sure foundation is se- 
cured ! " 

V. And this may explain some oft and strongly insisted 
upon points in my general preaching. A sure foundation im- 
plies the possibihty of an insecure foundation ; — therein you 
may find imbedded my principal reason for preacliing as I do. 
Clmst as " a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone,'' an 
experimental Chnst is the idea. Unto them that believe He is 
precious. He is not only a stone, but a 'tried stone, mighty 
to succor and sustain. He is, besides "a foundation, a 
sure foundation." Foundation is mentioned twice in the 
same breath, as it were. He is none of these to any of you 
unless you are regenerated and horn again. If this be true, 
how many of you are yet in your sins, with your foundation 
in the sands ! — the quicksands of unbelief that may soon 
swallow you up, and sink you into the unbeliever's portion 
in perdition ; the sands over which the torrents of God's 
judgments are to sweep, and the storms that make deso- 
late. Awake ! awake unto righteousness, that sin may not 
be your ruin ! 

VI. And this is my answer to " one of another taste." 
Alas ! how can it be otherwise that our tastes differ, if you 
have never " tasted that the Lord is gracious; " — never have 
come to Jesus, " as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of 
men, hut chosen of God and precious.'' Peter ii. 3. 4. Or, if 
you have come once, but have measured back your steps to 
earth again. 

O that God might once more touch your heart ! Or, if 
never before, touch it eiTectually before you leave his temple. 
Christ has purchased much for you on Calvar3\ And be 



THE SURE FOUND AT lOX. 115 

a?i*iircd of thi.-, it' you feci not your need here of wLat cost 
Him so dear you must hereafter. There is no truer senti- 
ment than this ! O that the Holy Spirit may apply it to 
your heart. 

Yes ! my fi^iend ! I dwell much upon the points in ques- 
tion, — " deeds, evidences, foundations, and assurances, and 
what not, seem the staple of your preaching." Perhaps so, 
on the nights you happen to be present ; and you see the 
reason noAv, if you did not before ; do you not ? But have 
you never known property lost at law, or left to desolation, 
for the lack of an indisputable title deed ? or a suit lost for 
want of evidence ? or an edifice ruined by a bad foundation? 
or a tree blown down because rotten-hearted, or badly 
rooted ? There is, perhaps, not a large town in the king- 
dom without examples. Lectures in season might have 
been of use, and saved much damage. But, sir, such things 
are constantly happening in soul affairs ; — foi lack of au 
assurance of pardon, — want of a good foundation in regen- 
eration, many die in the dark, saying with one in Switzer- 
land. " I leave the Avorld with empty hands, with ex- 
hausted powers, with a beggared spirit and a withered 
heart." It is to prevent such a catastrophe I'thus preach. 
Scores of persons, now present, have been persuaded lately 
they were building upon an unsafe foundation ; holding 
liopes of Heaven upon a suspicious and disputable title. 
They have been awakened out of their delusive dream. 
lliLS place has l)een vocal with their cries of distress. And 
not in vain ; a sure foundation, — a title of adoption, and 
heirship in Christ, have been realized. 1'hey are now 
happy and rfjoicing in hope. So much for deceived, but 



116 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

now saved professors. But look around. Here are hund- 
reds of people, who two months ago had neither the poAver 
nor form of godliness ; who made no pretensions to rehgion 
whatever. And now, behold ! They have found Jesus ! 
They are new creatures in Christ Jesus. To what is all 
this owing, under God ? To the fact of plain-deahng in the 
pulpit. Preaching directly to them, " at them," as some 
say, and not of them, at three removes, in the third person, 
that is, of " somebody else ;" a great relief that to uneasy 
consciences. 

I wish you to understand me. When were you con- 
verted I or born again f John iii. 3. Read that, and you 
may find an exception, that may " cast you," an eternity. 
Hearken to the Apostle. Acts iii. 19. " Repent ye, there- 
fore, and he converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when 
the times oj refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" 
Hearken to St. Paul. Rom. viii. 15, 16. " For ye have not 
received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have i^eceived 
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The 
Spirit itself beareth witness ivith our spirit, that we are the 
children of God" With these three texts / close upon you, 
and I claim the right of grapphng with your conscience and 
hopes of Heaven! Here, to use a legal term, we "join 
issue," the state of your own soul being ripe for trial. Have 
jow. repented ? hQ^n converted? sins blotted out ? born again? 
spirit of bondage again to fear, removed ? Spirit of adoption, 
given? ihQ Sp)irit of God witnessing thereto? the times of 
refreshing from the presence of the Lord, now comforting and 
rejoicing your soul ? Is it so ? when did all this take place % 
where ? Look back upon the past. Look inwardly to the 



THE SURE FOUNDATION. 117 

state of your poor soul ? what saitb it ? Come, sir ! Eit^her 
treat Chi-istianity as a fable, and these declarations of the 
New Testament as groundless assumptions, or give them the 
attention they deserve. 

Who can tell but " the staple " of my preaching, on the 
nights in question, was the very best selection for your own 
case ! Jesus, who saw Nathaniel under the iig-tree, may 
have had his eye upon you ; and so, the word was suited to 
your case. That was an eventful night to Nicodemus, when 
he had that interview with Jesus. John iii. Any other truth 
then than that ^^'ith which Christ assailed his solitary visitor, 
would, doubtless, have failed. " Verily^ verily, I say unto 
thee, Except a man he horn again, he cannot see the Kingdom of 
God." The suitahleness of the declaration was unmistakable. 
It was M'ell-timed and well-applied. Jesus, by his ministers, 
has spoken to many a Nicodemus since. Are you quite 
sure he spoke not to you as you " dropped in to see what 
was going on ? " Alas ! Eternity may yet speak upon the 
subject ! I meant nothing more by a good title-deed than 
what is recorded in Eonians \'iii. 15, IG, already quoted. 
He who has a properly executed deed has neither fear nor 
bondage, — no fear of legal dilficulties, and perfect freedom 
of action upon the premises ! 

Pardon, Adoption and Assurance, through the blood of the 
Lamb ! These are, so to speak, tl)e foundation stones of 
our etciTial salvation. Built upon tliese, and these upon 
Clirist, the sure foundation and tried, we are strong and safe, 
as a castle iii)Oii an immovable rock. Without tliesc, tlie 
gossamer is not weaker. 

Stand v.ith nic before tl.c inf)St l)eautiful ('(hiicc in tins 



118 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

city* Suppose you should sayj " A noble building that, sir. 
Much might be said in its praise ; but after all, what is the 
most important part of it, without which all the rest would 
be of little use ? " Now, do you think I would reply, — It's 
dimensions ? symmetry 1 classic purity of order ? or its chaste 
and elegant sculpture ? or the beauty of its internal finish ? 
O, no ! but the solidity of its foundation, without which it 
would be but a perilous aiFair ! Do you anticipate the 
application even to the most accomplished Protestant in the 
city ? — the most unexceptionable professor of religion within 
its walls ? " We look for a city that hath foundational' says 
Paul. We look for a professor who has attained a safe 
foundation. You know what I mean. I have explained it 
before. It is hardly necessary to repeat it. Are you built 
upon the foundation of foundations, Jesus Christ, and as a 
consequence, do you feel you are pardoned^ and regenerated f 
and as the last proof of it, as well as the last definition of a 
Christian, — do you know that you are a new creature in 
Christ ! that old things have passed aivay, and that all things 
have become new ? 2 Cor. v. 17. 

Alas ! alas for you, and for all your accomplishments, if 
it be not so. But if you are sinful man ; doing the things 
you. ought not and leaving undone the things you should do : 
woe be to you. In view of these texts your prospects are 
dismal. You are building on the sand ; and the storm is 
gathering. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SUKE FOUXDATION. A SERMON. 

" A sure foundation." — Isaiah xxviii. IG. 

. OME of the ^^dcked have lately turned^ prophets ! 

^k^ Don't you know it ? Aye, and some who would be 

^ very angry if we called them wicked, have become 
prophets also ! " And what do they prophesy about % " you 
enquire. ^Miy, they are predicting the downfall of these 
new converts ! They have said of me, "His preaching is 
prophetic, therefore he is a fanatic ! he has turned prophet, 
instead of preacher ! " And now, behold, they are doing the 
same thing themselves! predicting things to come; things 
that shall never come to pass, I hope, through the Lord our 
God. They say, "this and that one may stand a iveeh or a 
month, or until the exciting instrument has disappeared ; 
then they will become bad as before, and ivorsey "Well, that 
is saying a good deal ! for some of them were bad enough 
before, and if they happen to become worse, then you would 
need to look out for broken windows, or, what is more, for 
broken liead^ in dark nigbts, In defiance of your police ! 

H. Yfjii have turned })rophets yourselves, then, some of 



120 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

you ! But nobody marvels at ycvu, nor protests against your 
assumptions. liut if our God raises up a preacher, who 
predicts coming events concerning sinners, guided by the 
unfulfilled threatenings of God, then all the city unites in a 
protest ! " The preacher pretends to be a prophet, treat 
him as a fanatic." Hear me, all of you. Time is a heaven- 
commissioned commentator upon the unfulfilled threaten- 
ings of God. And Time also gives some stirring comments 
upon that one declaration of the word of God, concerning 
the soul he saves, " Who art thou that judgest another mans 
servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he sliall 
be holden up : for God is able to make him stand" Horn. xiv. 4. 
What do you think of that ? Do you believe that ? Away, 
then, with all this judging things before the time ! But God 
has many ways of rebutting false prophets. I Avould not 
like to be in the place of some of you, when God himself 
shall speak out of some providence, or dark judgment, and 
say, " Who art thou that judgest f " Beware of what you 
are about ! Think of that declaration of our Lord, concern- 
ing one of these " little ones " that believe in him ; that the 
man or woman, who offends one of them, — that is, causes 
such to be stumbled, so as to fall from God, " It were better 
for him that a millstone were Jianged about his neck, and that he 
were drowned in the depth of the sea ! Matt, xviii. 6. What 
an awful prohibition, terrible as that around the mount that 
burned ! Ah ! if these predictions weaken — oifend — or 
stumble one of these little ones that believe in him, will not 
our God see to it, and punish such stumbling-block? 

HI. But let us hope better things of all concerned, 
henceforth. At any rate we shall hope better things of all 



THE SURE FOUNDATION, 121 

these little ones — little in their own estimation and little in 
the estimation of the world ; but very precious are they in 
the sight of God. Nor is our hope -vvdthout foundation ; 
because we have taken great pains with their foundation ; 
that is, that they should be well established upon Christ, the 
only true foundation and sure ! For it is one thing merely 
to know of a good foundation, and it is another thing to 
build upon it and to build properly upon it. And who 
does not know that the future history of the edifice, for 
weal or for woe, depends upon this ? 

rV. But allow me to apply the thought, or to enlarge upon 
it a little. 

Kegeneration is to the future history of the soul, what 
the laying of a sound foundation becomes to the future of 
the edifice. That architect sitting over yonder will appre- 
ciate the sentiment. Tlie importance of a solid foundation 
for the future structure can hardly be overrated. What 
architect does not deprecate an unstable foundation? both 
as regards the foundation and the foundation work. Who 
of them would build upon the sand, or where a landslide is 
likely to occur ; or in the bed of an exhausted toiTent, 
where the next freshet may sweep the fabric away ! No ! 
no ! not in such places will they build, if they can provide 
a better ! r>ut if forced to build in perilous places, what 
pains do they take to secure a foundation that will defy the 
power of the elements. They dig deep, and are fond of the 
rock, and when that is won with what confidence they 
build ! And, yet, no true architect will depend wholly upon 
the rock, regardless of the materials he builds thereupon. 
Did not St. Paul look in this very direction when hti 
6 



122 GLIBIPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

hinted the possibility of a. bad superstructure upon a good 
foundation? 1 Cor. iii. 11. There he speaks of Jesus 
Christ as the foundation, and the only foundation which can 
be laid, for it is laid ; and what men have to do is to build 
upon it ; and compares the possible materials to " gold^ 
silver, precious stones.,'^ or to " wood, hay, stubble ;" showing 
that the fires of the Great Day shall declare the character 
of such spiritual materials. 

Pause for conviction, just here. The future character, 
and the future history of an edifice, demand a solid founda- 
tion. Architects secure that at whatever toil or cost. The 
world has never been -without a succession of such architects 
from the day that decree went out from Cyrus, king of 
Persia, concerning the house of God to be built in Jerusalem, 
^^Let the foundation thereof be strongly laid f' do^vn to the 
time of our Lord, five hundred years afterwards, who 
described the two builders, one of whom " digged deep, and 
laid his foundation on a rock,'' and thence clear down to our 
own times. 

And how plainly does our Lord show how a good 
foundation in regeneration and good works are essential to 
the future well-being of the soul. Kead his story of the 
two builders, Matt. vii. 24. 29, and you vnW. be convicted 
at once, or convinced ! I have stated his doctrine ; archi- 
tecture was his illustration. And was it not on the same 
principle he made that solemn declaration to Nicodemus ! 
John ill. 3. " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God f Do you not 
perceive that he points to this " second birth," as the founda- 
tion work of a happy eternity? This is plain, then. The 



THE SURE FOUNDATION. 123 

future histor}^ of the soul sinks or rises -vvitli the character 
of the second birth, " born again ;" or, as as the margin 
has it, " bom from above ;" or, as St. John has it, 
** which were horn not of blood, noi'' of the will of the fesh, nor 
of tJie ivill of man, but of God f — '•''born of God,'' as he 
speaks elsewhere. God himself denominates a regenerated 
believer, '•'The temple of the living God ;" — and St. Paul says, 
" What ! know yc not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost f and immediately joins the spirit of the believer with 
his body as the temple in which God is to be glorified. O, 
then, if Cyrus was concerned that the foundation of God's 
ancient temple should be strongly laid, should not we be 
much more so in the matters of such spiritual foundations. 

I was thinking to-day of that watch-word which rang 
over the plains of Shinar four thousand years ago, and 
which set so many hundreds of thousands of hands to work. 
*' Go to, let ns build us a tower, whose top may reach into 
heaven." Men who thought to build so high, were concerned 
about having a good foundation, and dug deep, unquestion- 
ably. Tliat the foundation was equal to the wants of the 
tower, seems somewhat evident from the following hint. 
This great tower had ascended heavenward about fifty 
stories, according to Rollin, when the Lord came down to 
see it, and remarked : " Behold the people are one, and they 
have one language, and this they begin to do ; and now nothing 
will be restrained from them, which i/icy have imagined to do. 
Go to, let lis go down, and there confound their language, that 
t/ieg may not understand one another's speech." Cien. xi. Wliat 
a little speck upon the platform of creation is man ! And, 
yet, discontented with the earth, he would climb to tlie very 



124 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

abode of God himself ! A thing lie may do, and must, or 
perish for ever ! but not by such a foundation and super- 
structure as that of the Babel tower. No ! but a foundation 
laid on Christ, the sure foundation, resulting in a new birth 
unto righteousness. After which, by virtue of a heaven- 
ward tendency, the regenerated souls ascends, finally, above 
aU heights, to the abodes of the Eternal! But he who 
expects to build so high should " dig deep," and secure a 
foundation upon the rock, should he not ? Aye, and take 
heed, besides, how he buildeth thereon. 

Wlien in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was struck with the 
great height of the buildings in "the old town," numbeiing 
twelve or thirteen stories high. The same thoughts 
occurred, regarding the foundations, as about the tower of 
Babel ; and how careful we should be regarding our founda- 
tions in regeneration, who have not to build thirteen stories 
high, but above the clouds, into the heaven of heavens ! I 
thought of what Jude says: ^'But ye leloved, building up 
YOURSELVES 071 your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
Gho.'it, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy 
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,'' God have mercy 
upon those among you, who have never yet begun to build, 
nor even to dig for a foundation, or if they have built, have 
done so on a false foundation ! Death and eternity will be 
their ruin, if they persist ! 

A few months since, when in the south of France, I was 
walking one day upon the banks of the river Eh one, when I 
overheard two men talking about the architectural ruins in 
Egypt. One had examined them in person, and he went on 
to describe the amazincr dimensions of the stones and the 



THE SURE FOUNDATION. 125 

solidity of the masonry. ITie other replied, with feeling: 
^^Ahl sir, the ancient Eg}'ptians built for eternity T The 
remark afforded me a profitable train of thought, in 
harmony ^\'ith what I have already stated. Wake up, 
then, every soul of you, and as you repent and pray and 
cry for mercy and believe, tliink with yourself, "I am 
laying a foundation whereupon to build for eternity, and a 
mistake here may ruin me throughout eternity." Think of 
what St. Paul urges in Heb. vi. 1, " Therefore, leaving the 
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; 
not laying again the foundation of repentance.'' In order to do 
this, lay it so securely, and live so afterwards, that neither 
suspicion nor sin shall necessitate a re-laying of your 
spiritual foundations in regeneration ! 

Regeneration is as necessary to the soul's perfection as 
a solid foundation is to the completion of an edifice. The 
illustration needs little argument. Look at a mansion. 
AVithout sustaining walls their can be no roof, no apart- 
ments ; — nor waUs, nor roof, nor apartments, without a 
foundation. For though men act like fools in religion, they 
do not so in arcliitecture. They have no fancy for trjdng 
to build " castles in the air." They " look for a building 
ichich hath foundations" An unAvise builder, indeed, in a 
certain place, mistook his foundation and the edifice 
tumbled down before it was completed and lives were lost. 
But this just illustrates the fact, if a person mistakes his 
conversion lie is not likely to stand long enough to be 
perfected. lie will soon fall into sin, tumble out of the 
church, and may be lose his soul with his life. That is 
worse than the fallinji of a buildiiiir. If that builder 



126 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVmG. 

suspected the catastrophe before he was thirty feet from the 
ground, he could have but little heart to proceed higher ; — 
as , little as those have to go on unto perfection who 
seriously suspect their foundation-work in justification and 
regeneration ! 

Eegeneration is to the soul what a salubrious founda- 
tion-soil is to a family mansion ; — a pledge of good health 
to the inmates. If built upon an unearthly soil — the 
foundations laid in pestilential effluvium^ with which the 
lower apartments are filled, good health is not to be 
expected by the family. No! nor can a soul ever enjoy 
good health whose misfortune it is to dwell over the foul 
soil of an unregenerate heart. 

Suppose you and I were standing in front of one of the 
finest mansions in Yorkshire, and you should require me to 
point out the most essential requisite in a family mansion 
next to a solid foundation and strength of superstruc- 
ture, in order to comfort, health, life, and happiness ! 
What answer do you think I should give you f Do you 
suppose I would say, the point of compass to which it 
looks ? or the gi*andeur of its prospect ? or its architectural 
proportions and beauty ? or the richness and elegance of its 
furniture? or the wealth and intelligence of the family 
within ? No ! but that it stands upon a healthy soil ; that 
the foundation air of it is salubrious ; that its apartments 
are filled with a pure healthy atmosphere. Without thisi^ 
health and happiness are not to be expected there. I see 
by your luolryou understand me. It is not that we belong 
to this or that church, or that our intellect is well informed 
and the outward character faultless ; the soul can only be 



THE SURE FOUNDATION. 127 

in health, as it breathes the. pure, free, salubrious atmos- 
phere arising from a truly regenerated andpurified heart. 

"When John wrote to his well-beloved Gains, saying, 
" / wish, above all things, that thou may est prosper, and he in 
health, even as thy soul prospereth" Soul-health was 
John's idea ! Confidence in that was the foundation of his 
wish. Had Gains been unconverted, St. John never would 
have expressed such a wish ! never ! For if men's bodies 
were as sickly as their souls, hospitals might be multiphed 
by the thousand ! 

Well, Jesus Christ is a sure foundation — sure for safety, 
health, and happiness. This trinity of felicities are enjoyed 
by all those who founded upon Christ, and built up in Him. 
And, let me add, they are found no where else. This is no 
fancy, and you know it. Why, then, seek any of the three : 
spiritual safety, health, happiness, where they never can be 
found. Hasten, then, O, hasten to this only sure founda- 
tion, and you shall find rest for your souls ! 

This is nearly aU I have to say to-night. We do not 
marvel tliat the world dislikes this sort of preaching; or that 
the votaries of fashion pretend to treat it lightly. They do 
not understand it )'et, many of them ; may not, perhaps, till 
the gates of eternity are just opening to receive them ; and, 
as one mournfully said, Tliey leave the purposes for which 
they were sent into the world, when they are just on the 
point of leaving it ; when the terrible lesson is burned into 
the departing soul, that what wa,s first in God's intention, — 
their repentance, pardon and holiness, has turned out to be 
the last in their execution ; and, alas ! the lesson is a 
terrible one. ! 



128 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

But jvliy should the religiously inclined not understand ? 
Why should they treat these subjects with indifference? 
Alas ! Some of these are as fond of closing their eyes 
against the light^ as the careless and profane. This is fact ! 
However, my work is to urge the settlement of such soul 
affairs with all the energy God has given me. How many 
of these risk their souls, where they could not be persuaded 
to risk a small amount of property ! I mean without an 
indisputable title-deed. Were a document offered them as 
a title-deed, without date or signature, would they purchase ? 
Nay, verily ! And yet they risk the loss of their place in 
Heaven, after much trouble and expense upon it, by neglect- 
ing a date and signature to their title ! that is, they know 
neither wlien nor where they were pardoned, regenerated 
and adopted ; nor have they the witness of God's holy 
Spirit to the fact of their adoption, — which St. Paul shows 
to be so absolutely necessary, in Rom. viii. 15, 16 — ^that 
neither our identity with the race of Adam, who are invited 
to say, " Our Father, which art in Heaven," nor morality, 
nor all the accomplishments which ever adorned a human 
being, can certify the safety of the soul, or its admission into 
the family of God, until the third person of the adorable 
Trinity sets his seal to the fact. 

No wonder such are in consternation on the death-night, 
when such a deed — date — -evidence, are worth more than 
all the property beneath the sun ; when such would ^^j 
give, if they had them, as many worlds as there are stars in 
the firmament of heaven, if their title to a place in Heaven 
might thereby be ascertained Avithout a doubt. What a 
difference between those two deaths which occurred lately I 



THE SURE FOUNDATION. 129 

— one fill confusion, doubt, niiseiy; but the other calm, 
collected, happy ! Why this difference ? You can answer 
this yourself; the stiikiiig acknowledgment that it was 
impossible to leave the world in a comfortable state of mind, 
with a doubt so tremendous hanging over the soul like a 
thunderbolt ! Ah ! was an answer sufficient for one case. 
How witli the other ? that it was impossible to die unhappy, 
however severe the last sickness, when the evidence of 
eternal safety Avas certain and unclouded ! 

Have you never read that item which Aristotle inserted 
into his " GEconomics," that in household order every thing 
sliould be so kept in its place that at any time you could go 
to it though at midnight ! Happy is he whose evidence 
of salvation is so well ordered as to be able in the darkest 
hour of temptation, or in the sudden midnight of death to 
go to it and to lay the hand of his soul upon it, and like 
him of whom we have just spoken to shout, " Victory ! 
victory ! victory ! through the blood of the Lamb." This 
is the best of all economy, Aristotle ! which you would have 
heartily confessed, had you lived in our Dispensation ! It 
is the neglect of this, which 

" Wraps that liour of woe in tenfold night." 

Through the blood of the Lamb of God, I offer salva- 
tion to every soul among you who will accept. I am about 
to say AincnJ and to retire within myself, so to speak, to 
ponder upon the lesson in theology, wiiich the depravity of 
man teaches me, and the need of supernatural aid in order 
to cope successfully with it. O, but I do feel this night, 
this need, to the depth of my sohtary and pleading heart :— 
6* 



130 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

the aid of the Holy Spirit, and of faiih^ — as much as the 
bird its wings in flying, or the ship the wind and hehn in 
saiUng, or the soldier his sword in fighting. Let us rise and 
sing: 

" Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, 
With all thy quickening powers ! ' 
C/ome shed abroad a Saviour's love. 
And that shall kindle ours." 




CHAPTER XVI. 

THE GREAT TEST. A SERMON. 

"Rooted in love." — Epbes. iii. 17. 

J^^Y text is a part of that profound and expressive 
prayer of the Apostle, '-^ And for this cause I bow." 
My intention, however, is to confine your atten- 
tion to the agi'icultural figure in my text. I shall not be 
able to say aU that might be said upon it, for it imphes 
much, and has a deep spiritual meaning; but I mean to 
preach from the text again, and shaU, therefore, only apply 
it, for the present, to the pecuhar developments of this great 
work of God. I remark : 
L These Revivals are Real Tests op Character. 

1. They certainly distinguish between the living and the 
dead ; — Hving church members and dead church members ; 
aye, and living Christians and dead souls in the world 
around us. 

A revival is the Spring season of the Church of God. 
And, as Spring uf lords a test for the trees of the forest, so 
does a revival for the trees of the Lord's right hand plant- 
ing. You understand me ! If there be life in the root and 



132 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

sap, Spring is sure to call it forth in leaves, blossoms, and, 
at length, fruit, although there were evident signs of death 
before. It is so in a revival ! 

2. How often have we wandered through the forest in 
Winter-time, observing the trees all leafless and crusted 
with ice and snow. 

"The groves are clad in widowhood, 
Their leaves they've shed in weeping, 
They howl their anguish to the blast. 
Which their tops are sweeping. 

The sparkling rill that danced so bright. 

The stream and the mighty river. 
Are all reposing in death -like sleep, 

That would seem to be broken never. 

Through field or grove no bird is seen, 

Its music sweetly pouring, 
For every songster's voice is dumb, 

And the winds aloud are roaring. 

Winter has come with savage brow, 

Commanding his ice-clad legions. 
Has spread his gloomy ravages 

O'er all these once fair regitons." 

8. We have wandered amidst the desolations and 
sighed for Spring, as we have often sighed for a revival. 
We have sighed and queried how many of the trees are 
really dead? — ^for they all seemed dead. Yet we knew 
they were not all dead — ^that there was Hfe at the roots, 
although under the embargo of Winter. And we were 
ready to question the ice whether it really concealed a 
living stream, or whether the last shower or the last thaw 



THE GREAT TEST. 133 

had been congealed into ice upon a liltliy surface ? But 
there was no reply, and we passed on. And on to another 
thought, that the state of some churches is as great a 
puzzle ! 

4. But Spring came at last, like a revival of religion, 
and disputed the reign of Winter, which, after some skir- 
mishing and retreating, and advancing and retreating again, 
was driven from the field, and young Spring was victorious, 
and all was bud and blossom — an unmistakable revival, 
when, as one observed, the air is heavenly, the chill is off, 
and it feels like a breathing from a rarer world ; the sun is 
up, marching through infinite and cloudless blue, and every 
thing that loves his rays is out of doors ! So much like a 
revival of religion that ! 

5. And then we rambled out where we walked and 
sighed during the reign of Winter. And what a change ! 
Tlie trees were all in the flush of green ; for, as Virgil 
obser\-ed, the cheerful hours had awakened the Spring, and 
the Spring had awakened the flowers, and the trees had 
boldly trusted their buds in open air, and May, which 
another of the poets named Heaven's kiss to the earth, was 
there, embracing everything, while heaven and earth 
rejoiced in each other's smiles ! So much like a revival 
of rehgion, we thought and walked on, and found further 
that what had seemed pure ice in the Winter had only 
covered the dirty ground, but we found the living streams 
and thought of the poetic sentiment : 

" As the great sun, when he his influence 
Sheds on the frost-bound waters, the glad stream 
Flows to the ray, and warbles as it flows 1" 



134 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

. So much like a revival of religion, we thought ! There 
was life and purity beneath the ice though we did not see 
it, and there was death and impurity beneath the ice, neither 
did we see that ; but Spring, like a revival, has revealed 
the difference, and we wandered on; aye, and found trees 
as leafless and dead as they were in Winter ! The fault 
was in the roots, wliich we could not see ; but Spring, like 
a revival among professors, has detected the dead trees and 
discovered the Hving trees ! the rooted trees — rooted in a 
good soil, as true Christians are rooted in love, whose life is 
hid with God in Christ. 

6. Aye ! So it is ; a revival, Hke the Spring, is a 
professor-detector! ''-Rooted in love." Without roots 
there is neither life, nor growth, nor fruit ; " the barren fig- 
tree " is the emblem — ^a cumberer of the ground. This 
rooting or striking down the affections of the soul into the 
pure love of Christ, is the grand secret of Hfe and the 
pledge of life even in the worst times. This begins in 
regeneration, and so long as the roots remain healthy and 
vigorous, they remain and grow until transplanted to the 
paradise above. But this is the one thing needful, without 
which all else avails nothing. 

7. Do you all understand me ? " He that liath an ear to 
hear, let him hear" It is this being rooted in love that 
makes the Christian. It is another definition of the 
Christian. It is the most essential peculiarity of his char- 
acter, without which aU the rest is wortliless. Hearken ! 
It is not so much the height of the tree, nor the stateliness 
of its trunk, nor the graceful balance of its branches, nor 

'the abundance of its fohage which the landscape painter so 



i' 

I 



THE GREAT TEST. 135 

closely studies ! But that which is quite out of sight, and 
Avhich nobody thinks of — its roots — ^heiilthy, vigorous, sap- 
giving roots, — without which the sooner the axe is applied 
to it the better, which determines its value. Can you 
make the appUcation ? Perhaps John the Baptist may 
assist you. Hear him : " And now, also, the axe is laid unto 
the root of the trees, therefore every tree which hringeth not 
forth good fimit is hewn down and cast into thefre." Matt. iii. 

10. Do you understand the Baptist? I shall help you in 
a few moments. But let me first sound one trumpet-note 
of warning. It is this : 

11. A Great Crisis has Cojie in the History op^ Some 

Present. 

1. Spring is a crisis in the history of many a tree. " Let 
it stand till Spring, and then, if it shows no signs of life, it 
must be cut do^vn and removed." I^et that sinner live till 
another revival, and then, if he shows no signs of repentance 
unto life, let him be cut down and removed into the grave 
and into eternity. Was not that idea in the mind of the 
vine-dresser when he advocated the cause of the barren 
lig-tree, " Let it alone this year also, till I dig about it, etc.'' 
And now let us consider the meaning of John the Baptist 
in the warning referred to, " And now also the axe, etc." 

2. Well, the Jewish Church had arrived at a crisis in 
her liistory. Long, very long had been her AVinter. Four 
hundred years had passed away since any messenger of the 
real prophetical order had shed over the land, the sunshine 
of a heavenly announcement. Sic^ns x)f death were every- 
where visible. lval)ljini«m and tradition had overlaid every- 
thing, — bad uhiiost Fmollicrcd tlie last spark of spiritual life. 



136 GLIMPSES OF LtFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

3. But a crisis had arrived in the government of God, 
to the world in general, and to the Jewish Church in 
particular. Something that would be decisive was at hand. 
A new Dispensation had already dawTied ; but new and 
tremendous obligations to repentance attended it. A herald 
from God had announced it. John the Baptist was that 
herald, and he aroused the nation with the cry, " Prepare 
ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'' — while, as 
Dr. Harris beautifully observes, " to prepare the minds 
and to excite the expectations of those he addressed, the 
burden of his message was nothing less than the stern neces- 
sity of immediate repentance, and the approaching erection 
of a heavenly kingdom : ' Repent ye, for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand.' The voice came pealing from the Judean 
desert, peopling its path wherever it swept with echoes of 
astonishment and alarm ; and as it passed over the banks 
of the Jordan, rung through the palaces and streets of 
Jerusalem, and startled even the distant shores, the won- 
dering land went out in crowds ; the sanguine, the envious, 
the devout, the anxious, the oppressed, the curious — priest, 
politician, populace — all flocked and thronged to the scene 
of this remarkable prodigy ; where, having won their admira- 
tion and credence, by the severe sanctity of his life, and 
agitated their fears by the bold and alarming tenor of his 
address, he awoke in them vague but elevated anticipations 
of ' Him that should come,' and took from them a solemn 
pledge, by baptism, that as soon as that Illustrious Personage 
appeared they would enrol themselves among his disciples." 

This was a crisis to the sinners in Zion. A new order 
of things had come. For this great privilege God had 



THE GREAT TEST. 137 

spared tliem, as he has spared hundreds of you who hear 
me this hour, to behold and to feel the power of this great 
revival in this city. 

4. Then it was that John cried in the ears of the multi- 
tudes, '' And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; 
therefore every tree ichich hringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn 
down, and cast into the fireT This was a faithful and fair 
warning ; a distinct announcement of the crim in their 
histor}^ O, may I -be as faithful with you ! They were 
now put on trial, theii' last trial, to determine whether they 
would show signs of hfe, or signs of continued death ; or 
whether good fruit or bad fruit should be put forth. The 
axe of God's judgments was now laid to the roots of these 
human trees, and ready to be set on against them when the 
occasion demanded. If they showed signs of life in the 
bud, blossom, and fruit of true repentance, then they were 
allowed to live, and to enjoy the sunshine, the shower, and 
the breeze of the New Dispensation, just opening like the 
gates of Paradise upon Palestine. But if no such signs of 
life appeared, they were to be hewn down and cast into 
'•fire unquenchable." 

" Dread words, whose meaning knows no bounds." 

5. And now, hear me ever}^ soul of you : The Kingdom 
of God is at hand ; repent ye and. believe the gospel. O, ye 
human trees, not rooted in the love of Christ, but in the old 
original soil of depravity, hear the word of the Lord ! Your 
crisis has come ! Something decisive is about to be done. A 
crisis has arrived in the government of God concerning you. 
How is it to be ? The axe is laid at your roots. Judg- 



138 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

ments are coining. You must be rooted in love, or uprooted 
in wrath ; given to Christ, or to the flames. O, how is it to 
be ? You can determine it yourselves ! 

6. O, ye human trees, sliaken alternately by the breezes 
of heaven and hell ; how is it now to be ? O, ye trees that 
once bore the fruits of righteousness ? what shall I say to 
you ? Not given to the flames yet ! No, thank God ! no, 
thank God ! no. See ^the cause in the face of your Advocate 
above. But what are you to expect, seeing that Jude has 
fully described your case ; hear him : " Trees whose fruit 
wither eth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by tlm roots'' 
O, Jesus, have mercy upon these rootless and fruitless and 
twice dead trees ! Spare them, O, spare them from the 
flames a little longer ! If there be any sins of real repent- 
ance, thou wilt. I know thou wilt ! Look at thy hands, 
thy feet, thy side. 0, remember thy dying hour. Remember 
also, the mercy thou did'st show to Peter, and even to the 
thief on the cross. O, ye backsliders ! there is yet a door 
of hope. Hasten to enter it, ere it is closed for ever ! 

7. O, ye who are rooted in love, all hail ! You who taste 
the love of Christ ! ye royal trees of the Lord's planting ! ye 
branches, too, of Jesus the living Vine ! Blessings from 
above descend upon you, — sunshine, breeze and shower. O, 
I would shout unto you, as Dr. Watts did to the pine trees 
and vine branches — 

" Wave your tall beads, ye lofty pines, 
To Him who bids you grow, 
Sweet clusters bend the fruitful vines, 
On every thoughtful bough ! " 



THE GREAT TEST. 139 

8. Yes ! praise him ye sons and daugliters of God ! 
praise him ! praise him, till your voices become as the sound 
of many waters, — even as the waves of the sea ! Praise him, 
and allow me to shout a chorus, — however it may vary from 
the figure in my text I am sure it does not from the spirit 
of the occasion ! 

" Shout to tlie Lord, ye surging seas, 
In your eternal roar : 
Let wave to wave resound his praise. 
And shore reply to shore ! 

Amen and Amen. 




CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GREAT DISTINCTION. A FRAGIMENT. 

" Rooted in love." 

IFE, love, growth, fruit and stability are some of the 
results of being rooted in love. Of these I have 
i^v4>t much to say. We are rooted in love the moment 
we are pardoned and regenerated. We trust in the merits 
of Christ and are saved. But, first, we hear with our 
repenting hearts what great things Jesus Christ has done for 
us. This enkindles our love. We cannot help loving him 
who first loved us. Before, we only heard the Gospel witli 
our heads, and it only inspired sentiments of respect for 
Christ ; — flight, like moonshine — very pleasant it may be, but 
it melted notliing, changed nothing. But when we heard 
with our hearts what great things he had done for us, some- 
thing better than respect, esteem, or light sprang up within, 
even love, yes, love, which differed from the other as 
sunshine differed from moonshine. Jesus then became 
precious ; we loved him, and felt that we were born of God. 
From thenceforth we heard the Gospel with our hearts! 



THE GREAT DISTINCTION. 141 

And that which was the element of our support, comfort, 
joy and strength in the first hour of our spiritual life is the 
very element that is to sustain us all through life till we are 
transplanted to Heaven! 

2. Now, herein we may perceive a great distinction. 
Those who have not been thus rooted in love have neither 
life, love, growth, fruit, nor stability. How can they? A 
tree without roots might as easily show forth such qualities ! 
To these very facts may be traced much of the phenomena 
observable among professors of rehgion. This city is not 
TA-ithout its stirring examples. You all know this very well ; 
but I forbear; only claiming the privilege of imitating, 
somewhat, my Lord's style in preaching by the use of simih- 
tudes or comparisons. I noticed a stake, the other day, 
that had been driven into the ground, and near to it was a 
flourishing tree. In what did they differ? Much every 
way, but chiefly in the matter of roots. Of what use would 
sunshine and shower be to the old dead rootless stake, only 
to rot it the faster. But these sustain and invigorate the 
well-rooted tree. But there is an equal difference between 
that professor that is not rooted in the love of Christ and the 
one who is ! Do you understand me? Does the similitude 
apply ? Does it trouble you ? O, that it might, if you are 
not rooted in love ! 

In an elegant drawing-room, not far off, there is a beau- 
tiful picture of a grape-vine ; and in a certain green-house 
there is another, but it is covered with leaves and ripening 
clusters ; no picture that, but a real vine. I need not ask 
you in what consists the difference? In a certain garden, 
in this city, there is a beautiful array of flowers, and they 



142 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

were all serenely drinking in the rays of the sun this 
morning. And, about the same time, there was a great 
display of artificial flowers in the show-window of a 
milliner's shop. What a diiference was there ? — in nature, 
in the rooting, in fragrance, in life, in growth, in origin, in 
liistorj^ ! And yet there was a considerable resemblance. 
It is thus with professors ; but you must make the applica- 
tion yourselves ; only let me exhort you with the Apostle, 
" Examine yourselves whether ye he in the faith ; prove your 
ownselves, know ye not your ownselves how that Jesus Christ is 
in you, except ye he reprobates'' 2 Cor. xiii. 5. How is it 
with you ? dead or alive in the Spring-time of this revival ? 
"When in Leeds some i;ime since, passing through a 
garden, I noticed a small dead tree. Much pains had been 
taken with it as to its position, for it stood upon a gentle 
mound of rich earth, and had had rain and sunshine in 
plenty, but it was dead, while everything around was 
clothed in living green. I remarked to the lady of the 
place that summer was an unfortunate time for that dead 
tree, as the living ones exposed it so ; that its honor stood 
with the Winter, for then other trees were much hke it in 
appearance ; that it reminded me of some dead church 
members in the summer-time of a revival; the living 
Christians exposed them by contrast. Their credit stands 
in the wintry state of the church ! 



CHAPTER XVIII 



KETURN ARROAVS. 



\ J ZE HA^^E noticed lately that some of the ladies in 
"^ V'^ York and its vicinity have taken quite a fancy to 
4W^. archery ; — a conunendable exercise, doubtless, for 



those who cannot find more useful employment. Now, the 
end of archery is to learn to hit the mark. I learned that 
fact when a boy, but never succeeded very well in hitting 
the mark ! liad it been somewhere else than where it was I 
would have been sure to hit it ! 

II. TNTien called to preach the idea was of use to me ; 
for I am not ashamed to say I carried the art into the pulpit 
■with me ! and so, as it was said of Ishmael, ''''And God was 
u'ith the lad ; and he grew^ and dwelt in the ivilderness, and 
became an archer.'' Gen. xxi. 20. I became a spiritual 
archer in the wilderness of North America ! Nor have I 
changed my pr(jfe>sion in England as many of you very well 
know ! Ilie arrows of ti-uth speed better and surer than 
my boyhood arrcjws ! INIy bow, like " the bow of Jonathan 
that turned not back f' 1 Sam. i. 22, because it had a stout 



144 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

back ! — my bow has a back of steel, even the word of God ! 
and it is bent by the energy of a helping God as was said of 
that of Joseph, " But his how abode in strength, and the ai?ms 
of his hands were made strong hy the hands of the mighty God 
oj Jacob." Gen. xlix. 24. To many of you has it not been 
salvation 1 — the arrow from its string, " The arrow of the 
Lords deliverance.'' 2 Kings xiii. 17. Ah! yes! but at first 
it was otherwise. You reahze as many do now, Psalm 
xlv. 5, — Thine arrows are sharp in tlie hearts of the King's 
enemies, whereby the people fall under thee." Yes, you fell, 
but upon your knees, and upon the atoning lamb, and were 
freely saved by grace. Blessed be God! you may well 

sing: 

* I on the brink of ruin fell, 
Glory to God ! I'm not in hell !" 

in. But this let me say, no man should become a pulpit 
archer without counting the cost. Ishmael was a great 
archer, but while his hand was against every man, every 
man's hand was against him! Joseph's bow abode in 
strength, but we are told in the same chapter, ^'•The archers 
have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him." 
Arrow for arrow is the motto of human nature ! " Against 
him that bendeth let the aecher bend his bow " is too often 
realized. Jer. li. 3. 

Well, some of my late arrows have fairly hit the mark ! 
But I have bent my bow too often, not to learn that return 
arrows are to be expected. Some of these I notice, re- 
feather them, and send them back from my o^^^l string. 
Others are not worth notice, and they lie at my feet just 
where they fell ! 



RETUKN ARROWS. 145 

IV. Look out for your arrows then ! newly feathered, 
indeed, and barbed, but not so as to prevent them from being 
distinguished ! 

Y. Suppose I say to " Facts of agriculture," admitted ; 
what then ? Sinners grow, and so do carnal professors. 
But they grow upon their o^vn roots ; they have never been 
" cut out of t/te ivild olive-tree" the old stock, Adam, and 
'-'- grafted into the good olive-tree,'' Christ, the second Adam, 
the Tx)rd from Ileaven. Rom. xi. 17. 24. The wild olive- 
tree to which they belong may be rooted in Christian soil, 
and may ditfer somewhat from that part of it which has 
taken root in Pagan soil ; but, like other trees, the soil 
changes not its nature nor its fruit. No, nor were it trans- 
planted a TN-ild oHve, into the gardens of Paradise, would it 
be othervAise ? 

W. This wild olive grows, then, and so do its branches, 
in York, — but they do not ^^ grow in grace,'' do they? per- 
haps in knowledge, but more frequently in presumption and 
wickedness. They take advantage of the soil, the love of 
God in Christ, and such poison, death and perdition, from 
that wliicli gives life and salvation to those who by repent- 
ance and fiiith have been grafted into the good olive-tree. 
Xo ! no ! I had no intention, last night, of denying growth 
and a species of life to those who adhere to the Christian 
faith but are not converted by it. Serpents grow as well 
as doves ; but though they breathe the same air, and bask in 
tlie same sunsliinc, the sci*pent remains a serpent and the 
dove a dove. AVeeds grow where lillics grow ; ])ut tlic 
weeds continue weeds and the UlHes remain lillies, thougli 
privileged with the same soil and shower and sunshine. 
7 



146 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Thistles grow, if allowed, where roses grow, but the thistles 
are thistles still and the roses roses still, but what increases 
the fragrance of the roses will only multiply the troublesome 
prickles of the tliistles. It would require a miracle to have 
it other^vise ! But it is just so with sinners, carnal pro- 
fessors and real Christians, who grow and are nourished 
upon Christian soil. 

VII. This is aU the answer I have to give. Is it not suffi- 
cient ? Does it detract from what I said last night ? I think 
not. The tree that soars must descend if it would stand ; 
the greater its height the deeper and more widely spread 
must be its roots ; hence the old maxim : 

" The lower it roots, 
The higher it shoots ! ■' 

It is so with the truly converted soul. For this reason, 
I urge the pursuit of holiness, upon all the " Trees of right- 
eousness, the planting of the Lord" Isaiah Ixi. 3. They 
must be well rooted to stand against the assailing blasts of 
hell. 

VIII. For a similar reason I urge the necessity of a 
sound foundation in regeneration and entire sanctification. 
Pie who builds high should dig deep. You understand me ? 
He who purchases an estate should be sure the title is good. 
None of you would buy a lot of ground in York upon trust ; 
that is, without having it surveyed, defined, deeded, and 
properly conveyed. Would you ? The answer is in your 
minds. Very well ; take the same care in soul matters 
and all shall be well. It would have been well for the 
foolish virgins, mentioned by our Lord, had they looked to 



RETURN ARROWS. 147 

their lamps in time. Look Avell to your heart that the true 
grace of God is there, otherwise, though the devil were 
bound ^^'ith the great chain John saw in tlie hand of the 
angel, and shut up and sealed in the bottomless pit^ it A\dll 
forge a chain and a tempter strong enough to drag you into 
the same lodgings ! 




CHAPTER XIX. 



MORE RETURN ARROWS. 



HE word " Extravagance^" is a popular term in your 
old sedate city of York ! just as the term " Blas- 
phemy " was in Quebec when I was pushing the 
battle to the gates in that city ! When any sentiment of 
strength and potency was uttered, pointed and convincing, 
and with a somewhat louder and more alarming voice than 
usual, and not exactly after their manner of thinking and 
expression, " Blasphemy ! " was the watchword of some 
sedate sort of folks, whose head and heart were never 
remarkable for traveling far into religion. But ^' Blas- 
phemy" answered every purpose of argument. Well, 
" Extravagance ! " answers a similar purpose here ! Both 
cities are walled around and fortified ; but Quebec has fifty 
cannons to one in York ! But their polemical tactics 
remind one of their military defences, 

n. Some time since, when conversing with an old Quaker 
lady upon the ordinance of Baptism, which she opposed as a 
useless ceremony after the baptism of the Spirit has been 



MORE RETURN ARROWS. 149 

received : I replied, Had you been at the house of Cornelius, 
Acts X. 44. 48, -u'hen the Holy Ghost fell upon all them that 
heard the word from the lips of Peter, and then had heard 
the Apostle enquiring, " Can any man forbid water that these 
should not he baptized ivhich have received the Holy Ghost as 
icell as we ! " 1 suppose you would have forbidden it, or at 
least protested ! Her reply was very confused, and the con- 
versation changed after one remark, that what was riglit in 
the fu'St century of the Christian Church cannot be wrong 
in the nineteenth ! I have alluded to this incident merely 
to say, that had some of you been present when Jesus Christ 
said : " Have not I chosen you twelve^ and one of you is a 
Devil ! " John vi. 70, you would have been tempted to 
exclaim, " Extravagance ! " Much less could you have 
borne with an eminent divine of the last century who 
declared that " a sinner befilthied by sin, is no better than a 
devil ! " I persist in saying that sin deviUzes the sinner ; 
and that for a man to graduate into a devil among men upon 
earth, before he numbers among devils in hell, is not among 
the things impossible ! And whether " at war with good 
taste " or not, I again solicit your attention to the other 
olTensive sentiment ; that grass in the field is useful, but 
gra.-s growing upon tlie housetop rots it : sinners growing in 
the iield of the world are variously useful; but sinners 
growing in the Church, as members, will rot and ruin it and 
themselves if let alone ! 

in. If TKUTii disturbs the conscience of a sinner in Zion, 
am I to blame ? Did I make it, or prepare tlie sinner to be 
woundiid by it? " Trutli is no doctoress ; she takes no 
degrees in l*aris or Oxford," no, nor in York ! " The sting 



150 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

of a reproach is tlie truth of it," says the old proverb. 
" Truths, Kke roses, have their thorns about them," was 
another. Wise sayings these. Are they not ? The hand 
of conscience often presses these roses too close upon the 
soul, so that their thorns are felt more than their beauty and 
fragrance ! It is grievous that it is so, but so it is with some 
of you. 

IV. I believe with Claude that " Truth grows not old by 
length of time ; that she minds not places, nor suffers 
herself to be overtaken by night. Nor does she shut herself 
up in shadows ; but she is near to all that turn to her in 
every part of the world ; she is eternal to all, and she is 
everywhere to change and convert those who behold her." 
A beautiful sentiment ! But Truth is often weak and 
modest, and allows herself to be shouldered aside for a time 
into silence and seclusion, leaving the heart as vacant of 
Truth as hell of holiness! But the old maxim in 
philosophy that nature abhors a vacuum is true in theology. 
Truth abhors a vacuum ! and like the Avinds of heaven 
rushes for possession and an equilibrium with a force equal 
to the unoccupied space and time of exclusion. This 
accounts for the awful noises and terrible wailings and out- 
cries among hitherto careless and prayerless sinners. 

V. It is singular that learned and philosophical minds in 
York are so much lacking in the philosophy of mind as not 
to understand these phenomena. Tliey can account for 
cuiTcnts of air, or the motions of a whirlwind, or the 
direction of the hurricane, or outburstings of the thunder- 
cloud ; but the motions of Truth in a congregation of mind 
take them by surprise, and fill them with wonder and con- 



MORE RETURN ARROWS. 151 

sternation ! They know not what to think or soy, only to 
exclaim, " extravagance ! fanaticism ! madness !" When a 
storm occurs in nature they are calm and philosophic. 
They acknowledge a cause, and a just one. They expect 
that nature will recover her tranquillity presently, and be 
all the better, all the more serene and healthy for her 
fearful commotions. And so they confess the wisdom, 
goodness and power of God in the use and control of 
elements so tremendous. But in matters of rehgion their 
pliilosophy is at fault. Their emotions and predictions are 
equal to the dark ages of superstition ; when an eclipse, or 
a comet, an inundation, the appearance of the clouds, the 
wailings of the winds in a hurricane, or the lightnings of a 
thunder-storm made the world stand aghast, as if nature 
had talvcn her last fit and would never recover ! But she 
recovered for all that, and became all the brighter and love- 
lier ! Aye, and so it is with the rehgion of the Son of God. 
But tliese gentlemen do not, like true philosophers, suspend 
judgment and wait results, or believe against appearances! 
\^. However, we must bear their critiques j^atiently. 
They have nature closer than the Bible or religion ; — are 
better verged in the history of natural storms than of super- 
natural or spiritual ones! — tliose especially which belong to 
the true succession of Penticostal storms as recorded in 
Acts, second chapter, which fairly awakened Jerusalem 
and made it vocal with "outcries," when all were in amaze- 
ment, some doubting and saying one to another, " What 
meancth i/ii.s ?" Others mocking, saying, " These men are full 
of new v:inef' — when wiser heads tlian any we have in 
York, perhaps, were puzzled ! But I'etcr understood the 



152 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

whole matter as he stood and called upon the men of Judea 
and Jerusalem to hearken ! and dashing the base insinua- 
tions aside, he pointed them to that glowing prophecy of 
Joel : '^ Audit shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, 
and-your old men shall dream dreams : and on my servants and 
on my hand-maidens I will pour out of my Spirit, and they 
shall prophecy.'' But there was a great cry at the close of 
Peter's sermon, and this was the burden of the cry : " Men 
and brethren what shall we do f Truth had done its work — 
" They were pricked in their heart,"" and in their distress cried 
out as loud as any of them ! Repentance, baptism, faith in 
Christ, for the remission of sins were urged upon them ; and 
that day three thousand souls were saved and added to the 
Church! 

Vn. The Truth of God is still powerful. Ye are wit- 
nesses ! As one said, Truth is in morals what steam is in 
mechanics, nothing can resist it ! Equally true was the 
remark of another, that Truth, like the lilings of gold, is 
precious. The least ray of truth is glorious. And I 
would add that a small particle of truth, hke a grain of 
gunpowder, may explode and scorch the conscience ; may 
ignite an explosive substance in the magazine of memory 
and conscience, and blow the sinner's carnal peace to atoms. 
Read over that sermon of Peter on the day of Penticost. 
There was nothing very "great or eloquent " about it. But 
how amazing the results ! Truth is all but omnipotent when 
backed up by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. 
This is all I have to say upon this subject just now. 



J 



CHAPTER XX. 



WALLED CITIES. X PRIVATE HINT. 

^v^v"^ V York, July, 18-15. 

r¥^ISKESPECT for York? No such thing 



'^S^^ thao fur Quebec. There are uoble minds in both 
^^ ^ cities, and in both cities I have abundance of 
friends. But now a word for " a private ear or two." I 
cannot deny but I have been tempted to think that people 
who hve within walled cities are apt to be more contracted 
and ilhberal in their views than those who reside in large 
uncircumsciibed towns and cities. Now, although it would 
be unjust to apply the remark to the people of eltlier York 
or Quebec, }et I would not assert that minds of certain 
temperament or callibre, or range of infonuation might not 
])C S(jmewhat affected by the walls ! Pardon me for think- 
ing or supposing so, but you know one cannot help being 
tempted although he need not yield to the temptation ! 

The mouse in the tub when he climbed to the edge, and 
looked arcjund tlie uarret, declared, says the fable, that he 
liad n<j idea the world was so large! Pardon me! but it' 
Aou know any one in Yfjrk to wlioni it might apply by way 



154 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

of instruction, pray do wliisper the circumstance in his ear ! 
It may do him good and dispose him to admit that there 
may be sometliing more than he has yet seen beyond the 
circle of his vision. Let this suffice ! 

However, one more gentle hint may not be inadmissa- 
ble : Addison was of opinion that several of the singing 
birds of England learn to sweeten their voices and mellow 
the harshness of their natural notes by practicing under 
those that come from a warmer clime ! The application to 
the matter in hand is not very difficult. But the Lord 
reigneth. He is the Head of the Church, and you know 
what the Apostle says, " The foolishness of God is wiser than 
man, and the weakness of God is stronger than many 1 Cor. i. 
25. A strange expression that I But it was speaking after 
the manner of men, I suppose : that the wisdom of men is at 
fault when judging of the appointments and operations of 
God ; that what seems foolishness or weakness to it really 
surpasses tlie wisdom of the wasest and the strength of the 
strongest ! And never is carnal wisdom more at fault than 
when it sets itself up as a judge of the divine administration 
in a revival of reli"ion. 



CHAPTER XXI 



STKAY ARKOWS 



°^S|k FEW remarks concerning that alarming discourse 
i-:^-v on Rev. xiv. 9, 11. Suppose there was "a 
'^"^ regular stampede, — sinful men flying from the 
house of God in all directions ; from a place which should 
rather attract than repulse them ? " "Well, what of that ? 
who was to blame ? what of it ? They only acted against 
God's house, as they have been doing for years against God 
himself; turning their backs upon him, and flying like 
Jonahs from his presence. VThy is not God more attractive 
to them ? because he is a God of trutli. Why did they fly 
from his temple ? because Truth was there. 'SVhy did the 
devils fly from a spot they had so long frequented ? because 
the Saviour was there, ^^^ly did the swine run so violently 
do\Mi a steep place ? because the devils had gone into them. 
Matt. viii. 32. 

Js it much that they fled from my ministry, when tliey 
have been running away from God for years ? Tliank 
God ! they have not gone down " the steep pLace ;" but it 



156 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

lias not been the fault of devils tliat they have not. Do not 
be at all surprised, my friend ! Men must needs run when 
devils gets into them ; as the Roman Catholics ran away 
from a street-preacher the other day in Ii*eland, when the 
priest got in among them, whip in hand ! Well, the devil 
hates Protestant truth as bad, and grins with satisfaction 
when he sees his flock flying out of the circle of its voice ! 
Aye ! and if sinners could change globes as they can change 
nations, and a globe presented itself which God never made, 
never governed and never intends to, there would soon be 
a regular Exodus. But happily no such globe exists in tlie 
universe, — ^unless we admit hell to be such ; but it is rather 
called " the bottomless pit " in Scripture ; or, " the lake of 
fire." It was the fear of that which made them run away 
so ; besides, they learned from the text, that hell itself is no 
refuge from the presence of God, wonderful as it seemed ; 
that there they must drink the wine of the ivrath of God,, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indigna- 
tion ; and he tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of 
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the 
smoke of their torment aseendeth up for ever and ever. " That 
was decisive. But they stayed and heard all the truth, and 
then fled from it, as if in doing so they could fly from God, 
and even from hell at the same time. However, our old 
globe retains them yet. They may think better of the 
matter and return. I know they "vvill ; how many of them 
have returned already ! 

If I used other weapons, or other " coloring,'' than what 
my text afforded, then am I to blame ; for surel}^ there were 
enougli of the terrible and the alarming in the text itself, 



STRAY ARROWS. 157 

without draT\'ing either upon fancy or poetry. But I kept to 
my text as close as your soul keeps to your body ! If I got 
" all wrong," then my text was all ^^Tong ! for I followed it 
as closely as the mariner steers by his compass or chart. 

Are the threatenings of God to be respected and rehed 
upon ? "\\Tiat true Protestant ever doubted that ? They mean 
something then. Certainly they do not prove that God 
desires to damn the sinner. He threatens him with it that 
he may be induced to avoid it; else he would send him to 
liell so soon as he heard the threatening, or without any 
threatening at all. I^ut he threatens and waits for the sin- 
ner's amendment and repentance with all long-suffering. 
MVe know the cause ; Jesus pleads for the sinner, and God 
spares and waits, and throws around him those threatenings 
to awe and keep him back from hell. A friend of mine 
compares tlie threatenings of God to a fence, wl:ich he has 
thrown around the mouth of the bottomless pit, to hinder 
sinners from falling into it. Another calls them the cu7'h~ 
bits of the Bible, to check men in their full career towards 
hell. Another compared them to sea-marks and h'ght-Jiouses, 
showing those rocks in the sea w^hich threaten death to 
tliose who draw near. The fence, the curb-bit, the sea- 
marks and light-house-like threatenings, are all so many 
ilhjstrations of the benevolence of God ! Would you have 
me remove or conceal them ? Human governments would 
visit willi severe penalties those who would meddle with 
theirs. No wonder, as that would jeopardize hnman life. Is 
Ciod any less concerned for the preservation of tlio liunian 
soul ? \{' tliese threatenings are tokens of tlie Alniiglity's 
bcncvolcucr', snrelv an ener'/otio and faitliful molhod of 



158 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

drawing attention to them should not be stigmatized as 
" Malevolence," which is but another word for ill-will ; one 
would think the more vividly they are indicated by a 
preacher the contrary rather should be surmised ! If sinful 
men "laughed outright in the streets," it might have been 
only from the throat upwards ! If the laugh came from 
lower down, they were not the first sinners who laughed at 
the thunderbolts of God. If " they swore at the preacher," 
which is likely, the indication is ominous and terrible for 
themselves ! He spoke truly who compared the Bible to 
the Garden of Eden ; for, like that garden it has a " tree of 
life " for every sinner, and at its gate also a " flaming 
sword," — the threatenings of God to keep the way of the 
tree of life — turning every way and flashing fire in the face 
of every sinner who resolves upon going on obstinately in 
wickedness. By what mode of reasoning would you con- 
trovert the sentiment ? Is it safe to screen this sword from 
the eyes of sinners ? or to sheath it out of sight in the 
mercies of a rejected Gospel? or to hide it behind the 
drapery of eloquence ? or endeavor to cover it over with the 
flowers of oratory ? when, alas ! it is still turning every 
way and hewing down rushing thousands ! 

The sinner refuses tlie mild and cheering light of the 
Gospel promise, — " He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
SAVED ;" a promise which like a sun-glass collects within its 
focus all the promises, twists them together as so many rays 
of " The Sun of Righteousness," and would fain pour them 
down upon the sinner's heart and kindle his repentings, faith 
and love together. But he will not allow it; he rather 
madly hurries from under its power. But he hates and 



STRAY ARRO"\VS. 159 

dreads the Gospel threatciung — '-^He that helleveth not shall he 
DASIXED," Matt. xvi. 16 — -which, like another buming-giass, 
collects as in a focus all the threatenings of God and pours 
them down upon the sinnei'S understanding or conscience, 
like a tongue of tire, from which he Hies as from a devourmg 
sword. And yet there is no alternative than that he must 
be saved by the one, or be scorched and hewed in pieces by 
the other. What is to be done ? Is it an act of mercy to 
try to keep the sinner in the dark, that he may perish in the 
dark ? like the Indians of old, Avho, terrified by the glitter 
of the Spaniards' swords, resolved upon a " Night-iight," 
when the swords would not ghsten nor terrify. Poor fools ! 
they encountered those swords in the dark, but found them 
keen and fatal as in the light of day ! So they fought in 
the dark and were cut to pieces in the dark. What advan- 
tage, then ? Objector ! hearken ! Has not this sw^ord of the 
Lord God flashed fire in the face of your owti conscience ? 
Are you sure there was no necessity for such an administra- 
tion ? The Psalmist said : " Thy word Iiave I hid in my 
heart that I mujld not sin against thee." Ps. cxix. 11. That 
was his antidote against temptation ; a preventive against a 
relapse into the sin disease, or its progress. He hid the 
word of God in his heart that he might not forget, or leave 
it behind, but carry it about witli him everywhere, as the 
blood in his veins. l>ut the tlireatenings are the word of 
God, as well as the promises. AVTiat are they but a heaven- 
prescribed antidote against presumption as the promises are 
against despair ! If b(^tli arc wielded with an energy that 
arrests tlie presumptous, and cheers and saves the despair- 
ing, O, bhiinc iiic not ! 



160 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

But another complains : "If tlie threatenings of God 
must be employed pray utter them, but not in a style that 
would make a good man quake, and even terrify devils 
themselves." But, perhaps, one is a consequence of the 
other. Threatenings which make devils and sinners 
tremble, may well cause saints to fear. " Let not God spcaJc 
with us, lest we die" cried the terrified Israelites, when God 
himself uttered his voice out of the thick darkness. Exod. 
XX. 19; and Moses himself said, ^^ I exceedingly fear and 
quake" Heb. xii. 21. If the threatenings of the word are 
to be announced and applied at all it is for a purpose. For 
what purpose ? To turn men out of the way to hell, and 
to prevent others from returning to it, certainly. Now, if 
one method happens to become ineffectual it is wrong to try 
another ! If the soft, the mild, tender, gentle, persuasive 
style fail, who will take upon him to decide that the alarm- 
ing and terrifying is uncalled for ! Aye, in full accordance 
with that command : " Cry aloud, spare not ; lift up thy 
voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions and 
the house of Jacob their sins." Isaiah Iviii. 1. Allow a ques- 
tion : Is it possible think ye to describe the threatenings of 
God as more terrible than they really are? Or that the 
sinner's alarm can exceed the realities threatened? Or 
whether any sinner is sufficiently terrified in view of his 
peril till he flies in earnest from the wrath to come ? ]\Iatt. 
iii. 7. I think not, and upon this principle I press home 
the alarming truth %vith all the power God has given me. 
That there is a touching and truthful allusion in that poetic 
sentiment, I admit : 



STRAY ARROWS. 161 

" There are hearts 
So perilously fashioned, that for them 
God's touch aloue hath gentleness enough 
To waken ahd not break their thrilling strings." 

Aye, but there are hearts of rock in York which need 
God's fire and hammers to break them in pieces ! Jer. 
xxiii. 29. He who is called as was Aaron, will know 
when and where to apply the promises of God, — 

" Lou- as the sound when gentle pity pleads, 
Or lone remembrance mourns the cherish'd past." 

Yes ! gentle as the touch of morning sunbeams, — or the 
hand of Jesus upon the trembhng leper, with "/ will, he 
thou clean ;"' — soothing as " music's dying fall," with a 
" Come iinto me all ye tJiat labor and are heavy laden, and I 
ivill give you rest ; and him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
vise cast out.'' Aye ! and he will know when and Avhere 
the lire and hammers of God's threatenings are needed to 
break the rocky hearts in pieces ! 

IJut the gentle touch that " wakes the soul of music 
sleeping in the strings " of the piano would make no impres- 
sion upon a rock. D'Acre was not taken by music, 
promises or diplomacy, but by artillery. A whisper 
cannot accomplish what requires flounder. The defiant 
o.'ik is not to be cloven by a ray of sunsliine ! a bolt of 
heaven f<jr that, or the unceremonious axe, or by the argu- 
ments of wedges. A zj^her is very well fanning the clieek 
of fever, or wafting the fragrance from the flowers ; but it 
cannot do the work of the Ijreeze or the tempest. 



162 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

There are " differences of administrations " in the pulpit 
as well as in nature, " hut the same Lord."" 1 Cor. xii. 5. 
Gardens must be covered with snow as well as flowers; 
hail is appointed as well as rain ; the overwhelming torrents 
take the place of showers ; the zypher or the breeze must 
give place to the tempest or the tornado ; the atmosphere 
must carry the vollies of the thunder as well as the voices 
of the birds ; the gentle sunbeam gives place to the light- 
ning with its bolt. Much damage is done, it may be, to the 
works and calculations of men ; hearts are pained or fright- 
ened, or discomforted in the process. Nevertheless, all 
these have been working together for good, the greatest 
good of the greatest number. But it often happens that 
those who complain the most of these violent changes are 
the most benefited in the long run. However, nature is aU 
the lovelier and better for these " differences of administra- 
tions." Every thing, even in tlie widest extremes, answers 
some special end in the divine economy. Thus it has been, 
thus it is, and thus it shall be — ^to use a pretty thought of a 
German poet : — 

" As long as skies shall nourish 
The thunderbolt and gale, 
And frightened at their fury, - 
One throbbing heart shall quail." 



C II AFTER XXII. 

MORE STRAY A R R O ^V S . HOLINESS 



7 V^ATAN hates holiness as he hates God. He has been 
-t^S^ showing it in jour case. You are not the first to 

^ -vvliom he has caricatured it. " It would not make 
you happy ; besides, you could not keep it." Nay, Satan ! 
but it keeps him who has it, and thou knowest it ! Besides 
holiness is but another name for happiness. Get thee 
hence, Satan ! 

And now thou tempted one, listen to me. Holiness is 
not what Satan has represented it. If you could see it in 
its true relation to your own happiness you would never 
rest without it — in its exquisite beauty you would love it. 
It was said of Catlienne Adoma, after her conversion, that 
she went away " bearing in her heart a flaming arrow of 
divine 1(jvc." O that I could plant such a flaming arrow of 
love in your heart, a love for holiness, " the beauty of 
holiness," before you leave this temple of our God! 

It is said, "A \irtuous woman is a crown to her 
husband." ProvcH>s xli. 4, And so is liolluess a 



164 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

crowu to the soul. Nor is it croAvned here or hereafter 
without it. It is the crown of its happiness here, and the 
crown of its glory hereafter. A " kingly crown " has many 
cares beneath; but this crown frees the heart from care 
and fills it with happiness. Holiness and happiness ar« 
really the same. They diifer only in name ; they are but 
interchangeable terms. The old proverb that a rose would 
smell as sweet by any other name is applicable here. 

And what is unholiness? Is it any thing else than 
another name for unhappiness ? These also differ but in 
name ; and a thistle, you know, would still be a prickly 
thistle, call it whatever other name you fancy. 

To sin is to miss the mark. Linguists say this is the 
proper definition of the word in the original. And if they 
did not say so, and Lexicons, both Hebrew and Greek were 
silent upon it, we know that to sin is to miss the mark of 
true happiness. 

He who called sin a system of discords without concords, 
of noise without harmony, the disorderer of creation, and 
the curse of soul and body, was about right. Dr. Adam 
Clarke once asked, "What is history ? Is it not the record 
of the soul, mind and heart of man. And what is the great 
tale that is told in historj'- from the foundation of the world 
to the present time ? It is this : Man is a wretched being 
through all his generations." And why? because he lias 
been unholy through all his generations. That is the reason. 

He who desires to find happiness in God, and will not 
allow God to find holiness in him, is sure to be disappointed ; 
and he deserves to be. Equally so when we look for hap- 
piness in the creature, when the Creator looks in vain for 



MORE STRAY ARROWS. 165 

holiness in us. If we disappoint God should we wonder 
when he disappoints us ? This is the reason why many of 
us have knocked at the door of creature comforts and have 
been sent empty away. It is right it should be so. But, 
alas ! how slow we are to learn this lesson ! How vigor- 
ously we have struggled against it. How many waste their 
whole lives in trsdng to cope with this determination of 
God ! I appeal to that aged man sitting over yonder, who 
is earnestly seeking the peace which the world cannot give, 
if it is not so ! I appeal to another, into whose heart the 
arrow of conviction has not yet flown. 0, that now at last 
he might give up the vain and sinful contest. Where is the 
arrow of the Lord's dehverance ? Speed it, O Lord, and 
let it not hnger on the string, else that aged sinner may 
soon be in hell ! For, O, how thickly are the arrows of 
death flying just now in this city ! 

r>ut let us proceed. As Job spoke of wisdom so may 
we of holiness and its inherent happiness ; if I may be 
aUowed a parody upon his eloquent sentiments [in Job. 
xxviii.] that the price thereof is not to be found, nor even 
estimated in the land of the living ; nor is it to be found in 
the depths of science, nor upon the wide sea of commerce, 
nor in the depths of voluntary or involuntary poverty. 
'' TJie depth f-aith it is not in me. It is not in me saith the sea." 
Tlie gold of Ophir, the precious onyx, and the sparkling 
sapphire have no value compared with it, and, therefore, 
cannot be exchanged for it ; gold, silver, ciystal, and jewels 
of gold will not be taken in exchange for it ; as for coral 
and pearls they are not to be mentioned, for its price is 
above rubies ; even the topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it! 



166 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

All these fine things which the world so highly values 
are valueless as so many straws in procuring it or in 
bestoAving it. " /^ w hidden from the eyes of all the living " 
who seek it in such things. It is kept close from those who 
soar, as well as from those who dive. It is not to be found 
in the glittering heights of fashion, nor upon the pedestal of 
fame, nor upon the pinnacles of pride ; it is " kept close from 
the foivls of the air'' Victory fresh from the field has 
nothing to say about it only that " Destruction and Death " 
said, " We have heard the fame thereof with our ears" 
Ah ! " God understandeth the way thereof and he hnoweth the 
PLACE thereof y He sees it in the lowly purified heart, the 
sparkling, priceless pearl of holiness ! — aye ! sparkling 
with the wisdom and understanding which Job so eloquently 
extolled ; and sparlding, besides, with the happiness of a 
heaven begun below ! 

Aside from all this, the nature of the case forbids we 
should be happy without being holy. When the flesh lusteth 
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh we cannot, 
as the Apostle says, do the things that we would, no, nor be 
happy as we would. When the judgment challenges the 
appetites, and conscience is at war with the passions, 
happmess departs from the heart as peace from the battle- 
field ! 

Tliat French divine who challenged it as a contradiction 
in terms to suppose we can be happy while the operations 
of our mind clash one with another, had the experience of a 
whole audience on his side. It is equally absurd, he 
insisted, to suppose that the Almighty can terminate the 
fatal war, the tragical' field of which is the human heart. 



MORE STRAY ARROWS. 167 

w-ithout re-establisliing the dominion of holiness. The poet 
Bums groped after the same truth in these fine lines : 

'• If hiippiiu'ss hae not her seat, 

Aud centre in the breast, 
We may be wise, or rich, or great, 

But never can be blest ; 
Nae treasures, nor pleasures 

Can make us happy lang ; 
The heart aye's the part aye, 

That makes us right or wrang." 

O, all ye who have ears to hear and hearts to appreciate 
ponder these things well. ''^ Be ye holy, for I the Lord your 
God am holy,'' is the command of the God Ave worship. 
And along "wdth the command there is a still small j:oice to 
this eiFect : — " It is for your happiness you should be holy as 
well as for my glory. Be holy and you shall be happy ; but 
never till then." O, may a flaming arrow of divine love 
reach every heart in this vast multitude around me, and my 
heart, too, O Lord my God ! May it kindle such a 
flaming desire after holiness, that nothing sliort of it sliall 
ever satisfy. May it become a spirit of Judgment, and a 
spirit of hurni)ig ; — not in icrath, but in love; till upon every 
dwelling of Blount Zion, and upon all her assemblies there 
sliall Ijc a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a 
flaming fire by night, as the proplict Isaiah predicts, and 
upon all this glory may there be a defence ; even that of thy 
continual presence, O Lord our God, as thou has pronounced 
by thy holy prophet : — 

"And I will b(! unto licr a wall (jf fin; round about ; 
And a glory in the inidnt of Inir." Zexhariah ii. o. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 




LL this congregation will bear me witness that I 
never "run down morahty, nor abuse really moral 
people." But I confess, when morality wiU not 
keep her place as the daughter of religion but becomes 
independent and sets up for herself, I am disposed to treat 
her with very little ceremony ! when she affirms that she 
has no no need of repentance, faith, and regeneration ; when 
repentance, faith, and regeneration are matters of indiffer- 
ence to her, who renders unto Caesar the things which are 
Caesar's ; then I am disposed to arrest her for the things 
which are God's. It may be roughly done, but with an 
honest and loyal heart to the King of Kings. 

It is no part of my religion to abuse any body. But St. 
Jude advises, " O titers save ivith fear, pulling them out of 
the fire.'" Had you been present at a great fire in a certain 
place, and had -svitnessed how the firemen dragged folks out 
of the frames, Hinging them hither and thither, you might 
have thought " that is pretty rough treatment," but the next 



THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 169 

thought "would have banished that, " The flames would have 
treated them more roughly than that." But none of those 
saved from the flames uttered a lisp about having been 
abused. 

Well, if I have treated moralists rather roughly of late, 
it was just to save them from the flames. I feared they 
would take offense, nevertheless, I pulled hard to get them 
out of the fire. They are not yet in hell, nor are they out 
of danger, though some have been saved. They are fretted 
and say I am " ultra in everything ;" in their case especially, 
they think. And so was St. Paul, on their principle, when 
he said, " If righteousness is come by the law, then Christ 
is dead in vain." A terrible blow that to the self-righteous ! 
But let "that pass. 

St. Paul, in another place, I remember, says, " I lorite 
these tilings being absent, lest being present I should use 
SHARPNESS." Now, I havc no particular authority, perhaps, 
to AMnte epistles to such, but being present I speak all that 
is in my heart without circumlocution. This plain, out- 
spoken style, unaccompanied by the flowers of oratory, may 
liavc tlie appearance of sharpness sometimes ; when all the 
sharpness tliere is about it is an intense love of tiiitli and the 
souls for wliom Jesus died. 

A conscientious moralist, who is really such, all that he 
appears to be, lil^e Cornelius of old, before whom an angel 
stood in " bright clothing," I respect and love, and my 
heart ])ums as did that of Peter to guide him to Christ. 
]>ut \vli( 11 it is otherwise, and matters are sadly wrong 
witliin. i1iou.l4i the trumpet of honesty sounds so loudly 
without, I cj.niiot liolp speaking' loud enough for the inner 



170 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING.' 

man to liear, and plain enough to make him understand, and 
sharp enough to make him feel. 

And now, let one and some few others hearken, and let 
many others consider the import of this somewhat singular 
exordium. 

Query ? Did I really caricature you by the sentiment, 
" You may be as much a stranger to grace as to vice ; and 
zeal may be as odious to you as uncleanness V adding, that 
what one said of bigotry might be fitly applied to a proud, 
self-conceited, self-confident moralist : 

" While bigotry, with well-dissembled fears, 
His eyes shut fast, his fingers in his ears, 
Mighty to parry and push by God's word 
With senseless noise, his argument the sword. 
Pretends a zeal for godliness and grace, 
And spits abhorrence in the Christian's face." 

A heavy class of charges, I confess ; but if they did not 
apply why feel yourself aggi-ieved ? The hardest blows, I 
fancy, came from another quarter, such as " Not outwardly 
bad, not inwardly good ;" the hands purer than the heart ; — 
free from outward enormity, but a captive to inward enmity ! 
Was not the rub thereabouts % Or, the feet in the way of 
righteousness, but the head and heart conniving at hidden 
wickedness. The outside of the sepulchre white and gar- 
nished and outwardly beautiful ; but within full of dead 
mens hones and all uncleanness. Matt, xxiii. 27. The outside 
of the cup and the platter clean, but ivithin a fullness of extortion 
and excess. Matt, xxiii. 26. The mark of the beast effaced 
from the forehead of the outward character, while the same 



THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 171 

iniirk lias found its way and lias deeply imprinted itself in 
the secret hand of the soul. Rev. xiv. 9. The profane 
swearer, the Sabbath-breaker — the drunkard — the thief — 
the murderer — the liar — the notorious whoremonger and 
such like, who not only bear the mark of the beast and devil 
in their soul, but have it unmistakably imprinted upon the 
forehead of their outward character ; these, who, as a good 
man observes, call the devil their father, aloud ! had I 
preached against such sins and such characters which carry 
damnation in their very front, you would have thought veiy 
M'cll of it, whether such characters were present or not. 
Ikit to pass by all these and to have the temerity to pry into 
the secret souls of the outwardly moral ; to dare to " dig in 
the wall,'' and find "a hole in the wall, and behold a door,'" 
and to enter into " the chambers of imagery," presuming 
upon an authority from God. " Go in and behold the 
wicked abominations that they do here," and then, Ezekiel- 
Uke, to " beliold every form of creeping thing and abomin- 
ahlc beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, por- 
trayed upon tJie wall round about, and a thick cloud of 
incense going up ;" and the sentiment of the soul inscribed 
upon all the walls ; " The Lord seeth us not, tlie Lord hcith 
forsaken the earths Ezek. viii. 7. 12. Aye, to have this 
assurance and to search there in the naked hand of the soul 
for the mark of the beast — for concealed sins — for little sins 
— f<jr secret sins — for family sins — for sins which, as a 
shrewd man obser\-ed, some folks called graces ; and then, 
bold man ! to tell this self-confident moralist and all his 
brethren who have no need of repentance, and wlio scorn 
tlio>c wjio talk r-o much al)Out their need of the atoiiiu'^ blood 



172 



GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 



of Christ — ^to tell such that " they stand at as hopeless a 

distance from a reception on the ground of innocence as the 

most guilty of their felloAv-men," was too lieavy a blow to 

their hopes not to be resisted. I might have been aware that 

I was stirring a wasp's nest ! for this is just the way to stir 

the nest. It is disturbing the Pharisee within ; it is binding 

the strong man and spoiling his goods — ^liis contraband 

goods and counterfeit productions ; and so the whole family 

are in an uproar ! 

***** 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



PRINCE OF MORALISTS 



' LL you say is very well, were your premise scorrect. 




-._, ^^ ^ But MTong premises make clumsy conclusions ! 
"v^^'V' That is not the Avord, but a harsher might offend, 
and we shall all try to keep in good humor these times. 
But ponder, 

" What is base no polish c m make sterling." 

A fact •which you will not disown, however you may 
shnnk from the application ! But not a greater fact than 
something else which might be stated. Ah ! sir, there are 
many in tl)is old city of churches who have no need to pray 
with the honest weaver of Kilbarclian, " Lord, send us a 
gude conceit o' ourscl','' — for I am sure they have plenty of 
that already, but they may have less some of them ere long, 
or the Gospel has lost its power. Amen, saith my soul ! 

At tlie head of all such moralists once stood Saul of 
Tarsus. By birth a Hebrew. Higli in tlie esteem of liis 
countrymen. A Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee, who 
'•'■lived in the straitest sect of his religion., a Pharisee;' and ^''a& 



174 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

touching the law blameless" Tlius adorned in all tlje accom- 
plishments of his sect, no man had a better conceit of him- 
self than Saul of Tarsus. None stood higher upon the 
tower of spiritual pride and self confidence, till he caught a 
glimpse of the spotless righteousness of Christ, and that 
struck him blind for three days ! But his spiritual eyes 
were opened. The glory of his own righteousness had 
departed as a dream of the night ; when compared with the 
perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ he pronounced it 
" dung," one of the most contemptuous of things. He tore 
it from off his shivering soul, and cast it away ; declaring 
that those things which once seemed gain to him he now 
counted loss, foi' the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus, his Lord. Phil. iii. 4. 11. To win a better righteous- 
ness became the struggle and the glory of his soul. It was 
the want of his conscience ; the yearning of his heart. He 
fell, at length, from his tower of self-righteousness, lighted 
upon Christ the Rock of Ages, and was saved. Turning 
around to scan his late tower, he beheld it was 'built upon 
the sand and full of cracks and flaws, and ready to fall to 
pieces everywhere. Then he preached everywhere, " To 
hwi that ivorheth not, hut believeth on Idm that jiistijieth 
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousnes" Rom. 
iv. 5 ; fetching many a deep sigh from the bottom of his 
heart. " That I may he found in hivi, not having 
mine own righteousness lohicli is of the laiv, hut that which 
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness icJtich is 
of God by faith." Phil. iii. 9. Ponder this experience of 
the Apostle wisely and well. It will sweep away your 
notions as cobwebs ! 



THE PRINCE OF MORALISTS. 175 

And, if I may presume to say anything after this ; if 
you will wear that perfect robe of Christ's righteousness 
Avith joy liere and hereafter, you must not allow a single 
thread of your oa\ti spinning to be in it ; that is, none of 
your owii self-righteousness. God would not allow the 
Israelites to wear a linsey woolsey garment, made of linen 
and woolen threads. Neither will he permit you, without 
the most terrible consequences following, to drape your soul 
in the moral linsey woolsey of which you speak. St. Paul 
shuddered at the thought in his own case, and his negative 
was emphatic, " Not having my own righteousness which is 
of the law." What he desired to wear in life and in death 
was " that icliich is through the faith of Christ, the right- 
eousness which is of God by faith." Suffer me to appeal to 
your principles as a Protestant ! Can you be right in 
espousing and advocating sentiments so directly opposite to 
those of St. Paul ? Would it not be safer for you to 
imitate his example ! How completely his tower of 
spiritual pride was demolished, and garments of self- 
righteousness were torn away, you may gather from his 
first Epistle to his son in the Gospel, 1 Tim. i. lo. 16. 
There you have his altered views of his own character 
when a self-righteous and blameless Pharisee ; he there 
views himself as having been the ver)' chief of sinners to 
whom God has sho^vn all long sulfering ; — to the end that 
no sinner might despair since Saul of Tarsus had found 
mercy! — lie even mc^re than liints that his case might well 
be a theme and an illustration for all future ages! 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

MORE FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 

#^ 

< 5 M, DO not question your exalted views of Christ. But 
>^- what of them, so far as you are concerned ? You 
have only extolled a physician upon whom you 
have never yet called for a cure ! A cure I You have 
never been sick ; at least, not in your own estimation ; never 
so sin-sick as to despair of every other physician save Jesus 
only. " There is the rub." How can you speak of Christ 
as you do, consistently? What he has done for others is 
nothing to you. What has he done for you ? Morality has 
done everything, Jesus nothing, only that he has given you a 
good example. 

Your "views" of Christ preserve you from being an 
infidel or a Jew. They have assisted you, perhaps, in the 
formation and polish of your character. How much more ? 
Have they reduced you to repentance 1 changed your 
nature ? dried up your spiritual corruptions ? destroyed your 
pride and vanity, and the inward love of what you have 
outwardly renounced and condemned ? How is it ! Alas, 



MORE FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 177 

no! for you liaVc become "morally good" without such 
repentance and spiritual changes. TIic corrupt stream of 
your nature has been made pure without any connection 
with the purifying fountain. The " evil tree " has brought 
forth " good fruit " without being made good itself! The 
thorn has produced grapes, and your thistly nature figs, 
which our Lord pronounces an impossibility. Matt. vii. 1 6. 
19. Matt. xii. 33, 35. Ponder this: the declaration of 
Jesus that you must he horn again or never see the Kingdom 
of God, should sound in }'our ears like a thunder ! May the 
Holy Spii'it open the eyes of your understanding. 

****** 

It is a pity your rehgion runs so much upon negatives ! 
You are not a drunkard, not a thief, not a Sabbatli-breakcr, 
— nearly a dozen nots were they all inserted. How then 
can such an one ever miss of Heaven ? Alas ! I fear John 
iii. 3 will deal a heavier bloAv eventually than any the 
.stranger has yet dealt you: '•'' Jesus answered and said u7i1o 
Jiim, verily, xerily, I say unto thee, except a man he horn 
again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'' Exceptions in 
law have often been powerful things. A temble exception 
is that of Jesus. The authority is so high it admits of no 
cavelling. 

Have }'ou been " horn again ?" — " horn from ahove" as 

the margin has it? In view of this what think you of a 

negative religion? Is it enough ? Can it save you v/ithout 

being accompanied by the positive? — fJ/.e love of God sited, 

abroad in your heart, hj the Holy Ghost given unto you. Koni. 

V. 5. How many cii)herH alone would it require to make a 

sum? Cover a foolscap sheet with them and would they be 
8* 



178 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

any nearer a sum than a single cipher? It is the unit that 
makes a sum of a cipher ! that tlie more ciphers the better 
if placed in the right position. Do you understand me ? It 
is inward religion, the love of God in a regenerated heart 
that gives an importance and a value to your negatives — 
your outward harmlessness. I noticed the other day in your 
lunatic asylum a lunatic, a Roman Catholic, his brow 
covered with drops of sweat, and his pen marshalling figures 
with amazing rapidity ! — he ivas woTki7ig out the salvation 
of the world ! — and, indeed, he was working as if the salva- 
tion of the world depended upon it. You know the sad 
case, doubtless. It may create a smile. But what are you 
about with your moral qualities, which are only as so many 
solitary ciphers without Christ ! — and were your whole life 
as fidl of them as that lunatic's sheet of paper they would 
avail just as much for your eternal salvation as his for the 
salvation of the world ! You understand me. If salvation 
come by these to any soul of man then has Clirist died in 
vain. Gal. ii. 21. He is no Saviour for you. O, how can 
you have courage, or how shall you have courage to look up 
to your Judge, and tell him that on a future day ! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

FRAGMENTS FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 

T'rS\ XE of your own Church remarked a long while ago, 
^^ " If you are only negatively good, God makes no 



"^ "^"^ account of you ; you are so many ciphers in God's 
arithmetic, but he ^\Tites down no ciphers in his book of 
life." A hard thrust that ! was it not? 

You have read the plea of that good-for-nothing servant, 
"I did no liarm in the vine-yard. I neither pulled a flower, 
nor injured a vine, nor broke a tree, nor weakened a fence, 
nor gapped a hedge." ^Vhat said the owner of the vine- 
yard ? *' Time ; but what did you do ? Certainly I did 
not hire you to keep you from doing harm, but to do good ; 
not to be idle, but to work for me." You may apply this as 
you please. But I consider it so directly applicable it needs 
no further words. 

****** 
Of wl)at I said, at the time in question, this is the sum ; 
that a man may be damned for not doing the good witliin 
his power as fur doing evil. " Therefore to him that knowcth 



180 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

to do good, and doeth it not, to Mm it is sin." James iv. 17. 
Though hell be not the end of every smner it is the end or 
drift of every sin. You see, then, liow far a mere negative 
religion Avill carry 3^ou. It is a pity so much self-denial 
should go for nothing. It is true you have a reward 
therein ; — ^it is better for your character and health and 
estate you should be thus ; and by means thereof you may 
not drop into hell so soon. But it does not, cannot fit you 
for heaven without the change which you scout at, as 
forming " the staple " of my preaching. 

A friend of mine had two fruit trees growing in his 
garden. One of them bore no fruit, and the other bore bad 
fruit. He cut them both down at length. The fruitless 
tree displeased him as much as the bad fruited one. He 
considered them both as cumberers of the ground. Both met 
the same fate — the axe and the fire ! 

Do you understand John the Baptist, think you ? Matt, 
iii. 10, " And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees, 
therefore every tree which hringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
down and cast into the fire'' Thus, you see, not to bear 
" good fruit " procures the death-axe, and consigns to the 
fire ! A fearful intimation this, to which you would do well 
to take heed. 

Ground may be wasted and misimproved by having no 
good seed sown therein as by bearing tares. Read over 
that solemn programme of the Great Day, Matt. xxv. 41. 
42. The characters addressed are sent to hell not for doing 
evil, popularly speaking, but for neglecting to do good. 
Those foolish virgins, also mentioned in the same chapter, 
"had not broken their lamps no more than you have broken 



FRAGMENTS FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 181 

tlie rules of Avliat the world calls good morals ; but they 
neglected to take oil in their lamps as you have neglected to 
take the oil of rei:'eneratiug grace in your soul. And so 
they found themselves in the dark when they most needed 
the light. The night of trouble came, as yours shaU by and 
by — the death-night — the midnight ciy, "Behold, the bride- 
groom comcth." But all was confusion. Time was wasted 
and lost in procuring oil. The door was shut when they 
came. Long and loud was their knock and their cry, 
'* Lord, Lord, open unto vs.'" But the Lord answered them 
as he M'ill thee, my friend, if thou approachest heaven's gate 
without holiness of heart, " Verily, I say vnto you I 
knoiv you not." That is, "I approve you not; I never 
approved you ; cannot approve you now — depart". Thus 
they were rejected, as you shall most certainly be unless 
that heart of yours is replenished by grace divine. Thank 
God for an "unless," for it implies you may thus be replen- 
ished! AVhy not during this great revival of religion! 
Never have you seen a better time. May you improve it 
so as it may not turn to you,- • ondemnation. Amen. 

" That twenty-fifth chapter of Mtitthew ! Do read it over 
when }'ou go home. Kead it upon your knees — for it seems 
as if written for yourself and brethren. The sentence therein 
seem all pronounced against negative professors ! Consider 
the case of the unprofitable servant, — he of the one talent ; 
he wlio was sentenced to outer darkness, where there is 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why this fearful doom? for 
Avickedly prostitutiiiL'" his talent? No I but for his negative 
use of it — doing no good wiih il. He went and hid his 
LorcTs rnojienj ^nt\ thought tlie act })rnl>-c'Worthy, because he 



182 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

had not used it in ill-doing, but had kept it securely. You 
have read his sentence — yon have seen his doom. " I was 
afraid " was his apology. Fear restrained him from abusing 
his talent, but not from burying it ! He feared the conse- 
quences of positive wickedness ; but that he should be sent 
to perdition on the negative principle does not seem to have 
entered his mind. He was lost by mistake ! Need I say 
more. It is plain a negative religion affords a poor founda- 
tion for hopes of eternal rewards : Beware of being damned 
at last, by mistake. 

You might with profit, read over the case of that rich 
man who went to hell. Luke xvi. 19. 31. How did he get 
into hell ? For what act of wickedness was he damned ? I 
preached from it when a young man, and had a very " dry 
time," and never touched the subject again for seven years. 
I could not- show how the man came to be damned — ^unless 
he was just one of the reprobate, and God had sent him to 
hell arbitrarily. But then I noticed he made no complaint 
against God in the matter, which I thought he might very 
well have done had some secret decree despotically con- 
signed him to hell. When a drop of water to cool his 
parched tongue was refused, on learning the impossibility of 
the request he quietly submitted, as if he had none to blame 
in the business but himself. I noticed, besides, that he 
exerted himself in forming plans to prevent his five brethren 
whom he left behind from entering into that place of tor- 
ment. He saw they might or they might not be damned. 
Had he been damned despotically, would he not have antici- 
pated a similar doom for his five brethren, which all his 
schemes could not prevent. 



FRAGMENTS FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 183 

True, he had his good tilings — such as plenty of wealth, 
wliicli there is no hint he got dishonestl}^, or employed for 
wicked purposes. It was plain he hved well — but that he 
was a glutton or a licentious man remained to be proved, 
which I could not. lie was also well clothed, but I could 
not prove he had been either proud or vain. Behold one of 
your negative brethren, sir ! And yet this harmless sort of 
man got into hell ; a serious affair this, sir ! You Avould do 
well to look into it. 

But why was he damned I that was my perplexity. 
Does the question excite any interest in your mind ? was his 
character altogether negative ? no ; it was evident to me he 
did some good : — he fed Lazarus — he was charitable to the 
poor ; there seemed a probability that more received alms 
at his gate than Lazarus, but to allow even him there was 
a strong proof ; not every gentleman would allow such an 
object at his gate habitually. He was fed with crumbs from 
the rich man's table. True, but tliat only meant the leavings 
or remains of dishes. But he desired to be fed Avith the 
crumbs; well, that appeared to me as the choice of the poor 
saint, as if lie thought "they are good enough for me;" 
besides, I could not prove his desire was denied. Such was 
my perplexity. 1 could not lind any charge of immorality ; 
and the question how he came to be damned returned wi(h 
ten-fold force ! 

After awhile I suspected the cause might be found in his 
principles. Did he believe in the spirituality of religion ? — 
the possibiHty of a change of hearty or he\n<^ boi'n from above? 
or in the desirableness of the remission of sins? the love of 
God shed 'Abroad in the heart? why then was he contented 



184 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

with such " good things," of which Abraham reminded him. 
" Son, remember, that thou in thy hfetime receivedst thy 
good things ;" anotlier hint he did not indulge in evil things 
so far as outward wickedness was concerned. But alas for 
him ! the good things of a spiritual religion are not to be 
found in his " bill of fare ! " was not that enough to send his 
carnal soul to hell. But did he believe in any such place as 
a hell in eternity ! It is evident he did not ; for when In 
hell he requested that Lazarus might be sent to testify to his 
five bretliren the existence of such a place. A pretty strong 
proof that neither he nor they had believed in any such 
place. " They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear 
them,'' rejoined Abraham. Why this reference ? because 
all these testified to such a place in the spirit land. The lost 
soul, doubtless, would instantly refer to such declarations as 
the following, and for anything we know to the contrary, 
told how he and his five brethren explained them away thus: 
"We were aware there were such passages in the Scriptures, 
as ' For Tophet is ordained of old ; he hath made it deep and 
large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood : the hreath of the 
Lord nice a stream of hrinistone doth kindle it.' Isaiah xxx. 33. 
And again, in the book of Psalms : ' The wicked shall he 
turned into Jiell with all the nations that forget God.' But we 
explained them away as well as we could, calling hell in the 
latter passage, the grave ; although we could not see any 
force to the threatening, thus ; for it was evident that all 
nations should be turned into the grave, wlicther they 
remembered God or not ; and so the motive fell to the 
ground and the threatening amounted to nothing. Besides, 
there was another awful intimation : ' Upon the wicked he 



FRAGMENTS FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 185 

shall rain snares, Jire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest : 
this shall be the j)ort{on of their cujx Ps. xi. 6. Nor did 
another passage escape our attention — one of tlie most awful, 
and, indeed, convincing in all the Jewish scriptures : ' Hear 
ye that are far off ivhat I have done, and ye that are near 
acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid ; fear- 
fulness hath surprised the hypocrites : icho among ns shall dwell 
with the devouring Jire ? who among us shall dwell in everlast- 
ing burnings?' Isaiah xxxiii. 13, 14. All these Ave read. 
But we explained them away ; pronounced them as only fit 
to keep the ignorant and vulgar in awe, but unworthy the 
attention of belief of the rich and intelligent. We often said, 
were God to send some one that had actually died to testify 
to us there was such a place as hell we would believe it and 
try to shun it. But, alas ! no such messenger came ; and I 
died and found myself actually in hell ! Noav I discover tlie 
Scriptures are God's messengers on this subject; and that if 
men ])elieve them not their damnation is just. Nevertheless, 
I plead that the soul of Lazarus be dispatched to my father's 
house to warn my live brethren, lest they come into this place 
of torment ; one of a family is enough to be damned." Now, 
sir, such a view opened my eyes and I saw how it came to 
pass that this harmless gentleman — this negative well-to-do 
person became one of hell's prisoners ! Wliat thinkest tl)ou? 
was this not enough to damn him? \Vliy seek for tlint in 
religion which he did not think it possible to attain ? AV hy 
try to shun a peril wliich he did not Ijclieve to exist ? wliat 
was there to prevent such an one from being damned ? 
what thinkest thou ? These are serious things, sir ! I conjure 
your attention to them. A little longer and it may Ijc loo 



186 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

late. You may die as suddenly as the rich man ; your eyes 
may be lifted up in Tiell as hopelessly as his. O, be wise, 
sir ! believe for more than a mere negative Christianity, or 
thou art eternally undone. 

While on the case of Dives allow me a few moments 
longer. It appeared evident to me that he doubted the 
immortality of the soul. Abraham, in reply to the request 
that Lazarus should be sent to prove to his five brethren 
tliere was a hell, said : " They have Moses and the prophets, 
let them hear them'' Dives instantly replied: '''■Nay, 
Father Abraham; hut if one went unto them from the dead 
they will repent. As much as to say, " I know their prin- 
ciples ; they are of the sect of the Sadduces, who believe 
in neither angel nor spirit. I heard them often say, that if 
they were allowed to see a soul they would repent and 
believe ; to see what one of Job's friends declared that he 
saw — a spirit, that it stood still in the dead hour of the night 
— that he discerned the form thereof, a clearly defined 
image before his eyes ; that in the midst of deep silence he 
heard its voice in audible articulations communicating to him 
a message from the eternal world ! Such was what we often 
wished to see, even though fear should have come upon us, 
and trembling, even so as to make all our bones, as his, to 
shake, and the hair of our flesh to stand up ! Job iv. 13, 21. 
We often said such a visitant would settle our doubts, as to 
whether men had a soul that survived the death of the body. 
But no such visitor ever appeared to us ; and so we dis- 
believed on until I dropped into the abyss of eternity. Here 
ended my doubtfulness, I fear lest theirs should end in 
a similar manner. A visit from Lazarus would put an 



FRAGMENTS FOR THE COMPLAINING MORALIST. 187 

end to their doubts. VTlij cannot such a \dsit be vouch- 
safed ? " 

Abraham repUed : " If they hear not Moses and the iwo- 
j)hcts, neitJier will they he persuaded, though one rose from tJie 
dead." 

Here ended the conversation between these two disem 
bodied spirits. 'SVhat thinkest thou ? Do you wonder that 
the man lost his soul? Why should he try to save that 
which he believed did not survive the death of the body ? 

Some read the passage I have been commenting upon as 
a parable ; others as a history. But it is nowhere called ii 
parable, neither by our Lord nor by his disciples ; a thing 
we usually meet with in connection with his parables. 
Ivather, it is stated with all the precision of an historian ; no 
facts on the pages of history more so. We would pronounce 
a man mad w])o Avould insist upon any fact in history so 
clearly stated, as a mere parable. Why then should they 
take such a liberty with an event related thus by our Lord 
Jesus Christ. But, as Dr. Adam Clarke very properly 
remarks, if it be a parable a man may live so and so, and 
be damned at last ; or, if it be a history, a certain rich man 
did once so live, and was damned at last. Thus, take it 
Avl.icli way we please the conclusion is the same. I have 
dwflt longer u[)on tliis tlian I intended ; but as it seems to 
cover tlie whole ground I do not regret. 

A BIJIEF r.KI'LY. 

You gave your views merely as suppositions and infer- 
ences, of coursp. Yes, but were they not just and natural ? 
I con-idorod the rich man a Jew by profession. That he was 



188 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

SO, and well acquainted with the Jewish vocabulary is 
evident, in calling Abraham, "ya^Aer," not once nor twice, 
but three times in that short conversation. Perhaps it was 
on the same principle that he allowed Lazarus, as a brother 
Jew, a place at his gate. Alas ! all would not do. He lost 
his soul because he neglected to possess the religion of the 
heart. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE INQUIRING MORALIST. 



^-.^ ET one deeply interested hearken; but I must to 
W^^ the point at once. 
f^^^ Yes, my text was 2 Cor. v. 17, on that occa- 

sion, " Therefore, if any man he in Christ he is a neiv creature; 
old things are passed away ; lehold all things are become new J" 
Of course I did not mean " a new creature physically," but 
a new creature spiritually in the full sense of my text. No 
better definition of a true Cliristian ever was given than 
you find in that text, sir ; he is a new creature or a new 
creation. The grace he receives is new, and so are his 
emf)tionp, perceptions, tastes, habits, principles, and tlie 
whole tenor of his life. All are new, — not pre-cxistcnt, but 
infused in 'the moment of pardon. 

The physical man is the same in appearance and reality 
— so is the soul as regards its former faculties ; I mean 
none have been abolislied, none created in the a])solute 
Bcnse. But they have been rc-constructcd or created 
uno.w : thev are new in the sense of regeneration, wliich 



190 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

signifies to re-produce, to be born anew, formed into a, 
new and better state, the natural enmity to God subdued 
and destroyed therein, and the principle of pure love to God 
implanted therein. In this sense such an one is. "a new 
creature" The change is from a carnal to a spiritual state. 
*' Behold all things are become neav." When all is new within 
all becomes new without. When the works of a clock are 
cleaned, re-constructed, and set a-going the results are seen 
on the dial plate. "Behold!" says St. PauL Such a 
change merits a note of exclamation ! " Behold !" mark 
how marvellous the change ! 

Now, do you understand me better? Thus, as one 
wisely remarked, "A man may be who he was, but not 
what he was, neither inwardly nor outwardly." You com- 
prehend that, don't you ? 

II. Perhaps I had better pause. Your position is plain 
enough. Peter-like you are in the boat of something you 
call " good works." Jesus only can call you out among the 
waves as he did Peter. Speak unto him. Lord ! Bid him 
come to thee. Hast thou not said, " No man can come to 
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Procure 
this heavenly drawing, my Lord Jesus, else my friend must 
perish. O, draw him out of the work-boat, dangerous to 
him, as the great deep of the Gahlean lake. Peter received 
faith with thy invitation, " Come I" and he stepped out 
among the waves. But anxious Peter had prayed, '•^ Bid 
me to come unto thee on the water." He wanted to go out 
and meet Jesus. He had sailed on that lake often and was 
familiar with all its shores ; but he had never before tried 
to walk upon its waves ; this was something quite outside of 



THE INQUIRING MORALIST. 191 

all liis experiences ; but Jesus was among the waves and 
the attraction was jDOwerfuL O Jesus, wherever my poor 
friend is this night exert upon him a similar attraction. Bid 
him come unto thee in this, to him, new mode of existence 
or experience. But may he venture out with a cry, " Lord 
save !" And O how soon he will be by thy side, saying, 
" thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt f 

III. However, if unbelief still retains its hold, before I pass 
let me drop this word in your ear, — rather a Avord which 
once found its way into another ear centuries ago, but so 
suitable is it for yours I cannot A\dthhold it. It is this : 
" You must either have a new Bible, or a new heart, for the 
old r>ible is as true to the doctrine of a change of heart as 
the sun is to his rising and setting." 

And let me drop another word in your ear, and may it 
also reach your conscience like a spark of fire ; better you 
had never been born into this world if you leave it for the 
world to come AA-ithout being bom again. Better you had 
never been God's natural workmansliip than depart from 
this life Avithout becoming God's spiritual workmanship. If 
you leave the world thus, Avhat was once said of Judas may 
be fitly said of thee, '•'■Good were it for that man if he had 
nei'cr been born.''' Mark xiv. 21. To the interposing grace 
of Christ I leave thee ; but Judas went to his own place, — 
where, I trust, you have no ambition to meet him. l>ut 
hearken, it is as possible for you to betray your oavu soul as it 
was for Judr^j? to botra\' his Lord and >\Iastcr. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

" And ye will not come unto me tliat ye might have life." John v. 40. 

A FRAGMENT. 

\ ^ ^C T was once a matter of dispute among theologians 
^A^^ whether Faith be seated in one or other of those 

\^^$^i two distinct faculties, — in the approbation of the 
judgment, or in the consent of the T\ill. For my part I 
would have no objection to allow it a place in both! 
Although, I think, as in your own case, the consent of the 
will is, perhaps, the last attained, usually. Ah, sir ! all 
would soon be well were your vAW in harmony with your 
judgment ! Had you but a wiU to seek the Lord and to 
push the matters of your salvation to a final settlement. 

There has been a will within you upon which God has 
been working, Phil. ii. 11, 12 : " For it is God that worketh 
in you to will and to do of his good pleasure.'' Ajq ! but he 
has not found a will to do that which he calls you to do, to 
u J^ork out your own salvation with fear and trembling ;" — 
the work of faith A\nth power, earnes-t repentance with all 



A FRAGMENT. 193 

its consequent fruit?, "with an energetic reliance upon the 
merits of Christ. This brings salvation, and good works 
follow. You are fond of Latin and therefore will venerate 
the sentiment of Bernard, "Bona opera sunt via ad regnum 
non causa regnandi." * Believest thou this? 

]My preaching has been thundering at the door of your 
^^•ill, and it in return has been thundering back that which 
is in liarmony A\ith the character of your morals, — a 
positive negative. The thunder has bolts, and so has the 
door of your will. The law of thunderbolts is annulled at 
tlie door of the will. Free agency must be respected, 
though the man should be damned. 

But it IS written. The liglitnings have arrows when the 
clouds pour out water, and the skies send out a sound ; they 
are often the arrows of God, and the shining of his glittering 
spear. Ps. Ixxvii. 17, 18. Ilab. iii. 11. It is also ^T^tten 
that God has moral arrows ready upon the string, and that 
tliey are sharp in the hearts of his enemies. One of old 
cried out, '•''Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand 
presseth me sore.'' And anotlicr exclaimed, ^^ The arrows of 
the Ahnightij are ivithin me, the poison thereof drinkcth up my 
spirits : the terrors of God do set themselves in array against 
vie." Such arrows fly with the sound of this preaching, sir, 
quick an those in the nimble lightnings. They are pointed 
to pierce tlie conscience ; and Itarbed to stick fjist there. 
And they do stick fiu^t. If not potent to force free agency 
they pierce and pain the mind and bring it to terms. As 
on tliC battle-field, tliongli a general surrendered, it was 



"Good workH are tho way to the Kinfjflorn, not tljo cauHc of entering the 
Kingdom.' A valuable diHtinction ! 



194 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

understood he was at liberty to fight till he died had it 
pleased him to do so ; but prudence became the better part 
of valor, and free agency carried out its oa\ti laws in the 
surrender as much as if he had fought on to the death. The 
application is plain. It is thus with the freedom of the 
human will. But in death and at the judgment seat, if 
condemned, it is shorn of this dignity or prerogative. 

The arrows of truth flew thick and fast last night ; and 
with what an effect ! They were not all " random " ones, 
without aim or intent. Some were levelled at the -will, for 
judgment and conscience had both surrendered. But others 
sped to the conscience, and others to the judgment, and 
showers of them to the hopes and to the fears ; aye, to the 
fears. They are made up of apprehension, you know, and I 
often make use of them to apprehend the rebel will ! You 
saw the effects and " wondered," and I wonder in my turn, 
how you escaped ! Query, did you escape ? 

Ah, my friend, you had better yield ; better for tliee^ and 
better for me ; for, as Luther said to one in his day, so say 1 
to thee, " There will be little rest in my bones or thine till 
thou art saved, or fly from the presence of truth !" The 
arrows have been flying around thee, — ^the arrows of truth ; 
oh, yes ! and the arrows of death also ! You have been hit 
again and again by those of the former, but your will has 
prevented you from yielding. But when Death bends his 
"bow he will treat that faculty Avith little ceremony : — 

" Ready or not ready there's no delay, 
Forth to your Judge's bar you must away." 

What say you ? yield, come unto Christ and have life — 



A FRAGMENT. 195 

fall upon that stone which the builders rejected, and thou 
shalt be broken into repentance, and life and salvation shall 
be thine ; otherwise, alas for thee ! in some dark or cloudy 
day, or dismal night, it Avill fall upon thee and grind thee to 
powder ; then what mil become of thy foolish will ? must 
perish with the ruins of the soul. Luke xx. 17, 18. 

There is mercy for you in Christ if you will but come 
unto him for it, and ccme as you ought. If you perish it 
will be your own fault. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed 
as im atonement for yoiir sins. The Holy Spirit is ready 
just now to seal upon your heart and conscience its saving 
benefits. Will you come unto Him that you may have life 
iustead of eternal death ! "Wliat sayest thou ? O, be mse ! 
Resist not his saving influences. Persist in the " well 
enough " deception, and thy blood shall be upon thine own 
soul. Ezekiel xxxiii. 1. 10. 




CHAPTER XXIX. 

GOADS FOR THE TARDY. 

EccLES. xn. 11. 

W halt is to stop, and to " halt between two opinions " 
is to balance between two, not knowing which to 
choose. In matters of religion it often betrays a 
very infirm state of mind ; — what one termed " a wavering 
inconstancy, a spiritual palsy." Difficulties in theology, I 
have known sometimes to be only the difficulties of indolence, 
which Lavater considers to be the hereditary sin of human 
nature ! If a man can but overcome that, he insisted, he is 
sure to overcome everything else ! 

II, " Progression ! " I like the word, if it does not 
happen to illustrate Solomon's figure of a door turning upon 
its hinges ! Prov. xxvi. 14. 

m. Gradation is very well if it is not a cover for cessa- 
tion ; — " an instantaneous conversion or pardon is not to be 
expected ; but I may approach unto it step by step." What ! 
and never arrive at it ? I do not wonder that such consider 
the stand-still pohcy as profitable as the progi-essive ! which 
they so frequently illustrate ! Where there is a will there is 
a way, says the old proverb. But, " the slotliful man says 



I 



GOADS FOR THE TARDY. 197 

tliore is ti lion in tlui way, a licm in tlic streets." Prov. xxvi. 
13. There is work to be done in the fields, and there is 
employment to be had in the towns ; bnt in both directions 
there is an imaginary lion ! Slotli, like a foul stomach, has 
a vapor into the l)rain Avhich ha3 resolved itself into a lion ; 
but be it known unto all such the old lion of hell is not far 
off, waiting to devour the slothful soul. 1 Peter v. 8. 

IV. How many cases of gradual conversion, [I speak 
now to a certiiin person in this audience] can you point 
out in the New Testament ? Have you found one ? are 
vou thinking of Saul of Tarsus ? AYell, I admit the 
" process " in his case lasted three days, and three dismal 
days they were ! And if you are willing to limit the gradual 
coiivei*sion to three days, instead of extending it to time 
indefinite}, as years, I would be content to drop the matter 
just here and urge you to be true to your expectations ! But 
£is it is otherwise, let us proceed a little. Saul of Tarsus 
•VN'as three days in the sorrows of repentance ; but he was 
gradually approaching to salvation ; he arrived at it, and 
the glory of God burst upon his spiritual vision ; he 
recovered his eyesight at the same moment. Was this so ? 
Then lie was changed in a moment from darkness to ligltl, and 
from the j>ower of Satan to God ! If so, there was a last 
moment when it was not so ; and that last and first moment 
came within the compass of three days ! "What then becomes 
of the gradual convGr>ion of which you speak ? Consider 
again : when Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, 
" Son, be of good cheer ; thy sins he forgiven thee,'' how long, 
think you, before he felt lie was forgivon ? how long hoforo 
this act of mercy was c"iii])l«'t(.'d, so that it couM \nt -aid, tho 



198 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

man's sins were really forgiven ? O, my dear friend, away 
with all such childish notions, and think like a man ! House 
yourself, man ! and lay hold on eternal life ! " Behold, now 
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day oj salvation^ It 
will be your own fault if it is not so. Awake to purpose 
then, and it shall be so. The Lord help you. 

V. There is a gradual preparation for pardon, a pro- 
gression towards it. But when pardon takes place it must 
be in a moment. There is a last moment when we are not 
forgiven, and a first moment when we are, if ever that boon 
is gi'anted us from Heaven. It is necessarily so, as you must 
see, if you exercise your common sense in thinking upon the 
subject. All your comparisons in science and in nature fall 
to the ground before the glorious manifestations of a sin- 
pardoning God. 

A fine writer took just the opposite view of matters 

from your stand-point. He compared the advance of 

intellectual science to the sun rising from the verge of the 

earth, light by light towards the meridian. But spiritual 

science he compared to the light which heralded the birth 

of the Messiah ; it bursts upon us at once from the zenith, 

and fills the midnight of the soul with celestial glory ! Were 

I to appeal to this concourse around me, what " a cloud of 

witnesses " would rise to testify to tliis very fact ! — each 

declaring, 

" Long my imprison'd spirit lay 

Fast bound in sin and nature's night ; 

Thine eye diffused a quicJc'ning ray ; 

I woke ; the dungeon flamed with light ; 

My chains fell off, my heart was free, 

I rose, went forth, and follow'd thee." 



GOADS FOR THE TARDY. 199 

Vr. AMiat one remarked centuries ago applies to you 
most strikiuiily. It was to this effect, that never was a 
^^•ound liealed by a prepared but unapplied plaster ; nor a 
b(»dy ^\ armed by the most costly garment, made but not put 
on ; nor a heart refreshed and comforted by the richest 
cordial, compounded but not received. Nor from the 
beginning of the world was it ever known that a poor, 
deceived, condemned, polluted sinner was ever delivered 
out of tliat woful state, until Christ ivas maxle unto him wisdom^ 
righteousness, sanctilication and redemption ! There, sir ! 
that is speaking out like thunder ! May something fall 
into your conscience doing the work of a bolt, but only to 
kill and make ahve ; for, that is the grand design of all the 
tliunderbolts of the Gospek 

\ll. lie who says in the sixteenth Psalm, " Thou icilt 
SHOW ine the path of life,'" spoke a gi'eat general truth ; a 
part of God's merciful government to every soul of man, 
although multitudes make no good use of it. For what 
good to be shown the path of life if we refuse to walk in it. 
The throne of God is indeed cleared from our blood, but our 
responsibihty is therein' increased a thousand fold. "J^o 
suppose we are in the path of life merely because we have 
had a glimpse of it is the conclusion of a madman's dream. 
1'l;e bog^^ar who dreamt he was a king, but awoke and found 
himself a j)auper still, is brother to such an (me. Or, lie 
who fell asleep on the bnnk of a precipice and dreamt he 
wa.'i " rolling in wealth," an«l rolled over into destruction is 
a fit representative ; fearfully illustrative of the last hours 
"f many a J'rotestant as well as Jioman (atliolic ; wIjo 
dream they arc (.'hri-tiaii- and a-cciiding into Ilcavcu, 



200 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

when, alas ! they iind tliemselves sinking into hell ; — " their 
hope as the giving up of the ghost,"" Job xi. 20 ; their hope 
and their ghost depart together, and are separated for ever ; 
heirs to flames instead of crowns ; miseiy beginning where 
hope had its ending. I tremble lest such might be my own 
fate ; which, by the grace of God I shall try to do all I can 
to prevent. Are you of the same mind ? Begin now, then, 
in right good earnest ! 

Vm. When at sea I noticed the captain take note of 
his position on the great waters. 1st, By looldng down upon 
his compass ; and 2d, by looking up towards the heavens ; 
scanning the sun through his quadrant. O, sir ! look doAvn 
into the Scriptures, — which declare that " hy the deeds of the 
law there shall no flesh be justified in liis sight." Rom. iii. 
20 ; that hj faith alone we arejtxstified without the deeds of the 
law. Rom. iii. 28 ; and that " being justified hy faith we have 
loeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" Rom. v. 1. 
Look up into the heaven of heavens, the dwelling-place of 
God ! Look down into the ivordof God and read : " Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see 
the Kingdom of God." A declaration tliis, which, as one 
says, " Come to us under the great seal of our Lord's most 
solemn asseveration repeatedly afilxed, ^verily, verily.'" 
John iii. Su Look up into the Heavens, a holy God is there. 
Look down into the Bible and read, " Without holiness no 
man shall see the Lord." Heb. xii. 14. Look up to that 
elysium where only the holy dwell. Look down into the 
intimations of your own moral nature within, of which con- 
science is often the expounder. Does it not confirm the 
declaration of the Bible, that no holiness in death is no 



GOADS FOR THE TARDY. 201 

heaven after death ; — tliat such a prc-wfimatioii. within you 
is not '' a su2)erstitwus ./Vfl?'," but tliat which is supported by 
the Scriptures, which cannot be broken. 

Be not weary, sir ! Look icithin ! l>ehold a proud^ 
unclean deceitful heart, — "the ^rand impostor," as St. 
Augustine called it ; and then tell me whether you think 
sincerely you are in a safe state regarding eternity. l>e 
advised : think of what ]Mr. Melville said to his London 
congregation : '* If I would iind out what is hidden I must 
follow Avhat is revealed. The way to Heaven is disclosed ; 
am I walking in that way ? It would be a poor proof that 
1 were on my voyage to India that Avith glowing eloquence 
and thrilling poetry I could discourse on the palm-groves 
and the spice isles of the East. Am I on the w^aters? Is 
the sail hoisted to the winds ? and does the land of my birth 
look blue and faint in the distance ? The Bible never speaks 
of men as elected to be saved from shipwreck ; but only as 
elected to tighten the ropes and hoist the sails, and stand by 
the rudder. AVe are electkd to faith, to sanctilication, to 
i)bedicnce. Here is a stimulus to ellurt. It cannot act as 
a soporific. It cainiot lull me to security. It cannot engender 
Hcentionsness. It will throw ardor into the spirit, and tire 
into the eye, vijjor into the limb. I shall cut away the 
boat and let drive all human devices, and gird myself amid 
the fierceness of the tempest to steer the shattered vessel 
into port." AVhat think you of such sentiments, sir, to say 
nothing of the beauty of the figures and of the language? A 
m»>>t favorable view of a controverted scMilimcnt, and safe 
withal ! 



9* 



CHAPTER XXX 



PRIMITIVE PATRONS OF THE GOSPEL. A SERSION. 



And the poor hane the Gospel preached unto them.'" — Matt, x3. 5. 



^ (^ T is said of Jesus, " The common people heard him 
-£^jmL gladly.'' Nor is it to be wondered at ; for it was 

^^^(> among thera, and in their behalf, some of hig 
choicest miracles were wrought. No Avonder that they 
congregated around him in such tremendous masses with 
their halt, and deaf, and blind, even their very dead were 
there awaiting a touch or a look which restored them to 
life ; nor were the poor lepers prevented by their poor 
brethren from folloAving in his train ! These masses of the 
people would follow him into the wilderness, they hung 
upon his lips for days, forgetting to eat, — so much had their 
spiritual appetites overpowered their bodily appetites ; their 
concern for their souls quite absorbing the recollection that 
they had " bodily wants " to be supplied, so much so that 
Jesus, their constant friend, had to perfonn a miracle, and 
thus preserved five thousand of them at one time, and four 



rKnilTlVE PATRONS OF THE GOSPEL. 203 

thi)r.sancl tit ain^tlior. besides women and children without 
Quniber, from peiishing by hunger. 

II. The words of my text were uttered upon a certain 
occasion of a gi-eat gathering of the poor and the common 
people. 

It seems that John the Baptist sent a deputation to our 
Lord with this inquiry, " Art thou he that should come, or do 
tee look /or another f " eTesus," to use the words of an 
eloquent writer, "• foresaw the moment when tliese disciples 
would arrive, and he prepared for it : he knew the object of 
their vL^it, and he aiTayed his demonstrations accordingly. 
And what Avere his preparations ? A company of the blind, 
the deaf, tlie leprous, the demoniacal, the dying ; these were 
collected around him, and formed the materials on which he 
proposed to work ; this was the selection of misery, the mass 
of disease and death, on which he designed to breathe, and 
create it anew. The messengers drew nigh, and he made 
bare his arm ; tliey arrived, and asked him to decide the 
question of his Messialiship ; fortliwilh they received his 
reply in a series of stupendous miracles. lie spoke, and the 
deaf heard his voice ; he spoke again, and the blind opened 
their eyes on the blessed light of day ; lie put forth his hand, 
and the crimson fever faded at his toucli ; he looked on the 
dying, and they arose and were strong ; he called to the 
frenzied demoniac, and madness itself fell down and wor- 
shipped him. 'There,' said he, ' l)chold my reply ! .Go 
and tell John wliat tilings ye have seen and licard, and 
abide by the right interpretation of them.' " And added 
the words of my text, " And the poor have the Gospel preached 
unto thrm. ' lUit aware of the advauta'jc Nsliicli Satan iniLfht 



204 GLIMFSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

take" of the fact, those words fell upou the ears of the 
deputation as they departed, " And blessed is he lohosoever 
shall not be offended in mef or as some render it, " Happy is 
he who will not be stumbled at me ;" " stumbled into unbelief 
of my divine mission as the true Messiah, by the meanness 
of my appearance, and the poverty of my followers." No, 
Jesus, no ! for how often have our faith and love been 
increased when contemplating thee so engaged and so sur- 
rounded ! And who are they, O blessed, invisible Saviour, 
who are the vast majority yet of thy deyoted followers ? 
who, but the poor, the common people ? It is they who 
crowd thy temples and gladly follow thee in thy Gospel. 
"We rejoice in the fact. Far be it from us to kindle at the 
contemplation of the past, and look coldly upon the present. 
"We hail the royal succession. The primitive patrons of the 
Gospel are represented in the modern ! "It is the poor in 
general who hear the Gospel ;" says a learned writer, " the 
rich and the great are either too busy or too much gratified 
with temporal things to pay any attention to the voice of 
God." We rejoice, therefore, in behalf of the true succes- 
sion ! and in the triumph of the grace of God among them 
in this our day ! 

" The shepherd who died his sheep to redeem, 
On every side are gathered to him ; 
The weary and burden'd, the reprobate race, 
And wait to be pardon'd through Jesus's grace. 

The blind are restored through Jesus's name 
They see their dear Lord, and follow the Lamb ; 
The halt they are walking and running their race, 
Tlie dumb they are talking of Jesus's grace. 



PRTMTTIVE TATRONS OF THE GOSPEL. 205 

The deaf hear liis voice and oonit'ortiiig words. 
It bids tliem rejoice in Jesus tlieir Lord : 
' Thy sins are forgiven, accepted thou art,' 
They listen, and heaven springs up in their heart. 

The lepei-s Irom all their spots are made clean ; 
The dead by his call are raised from their sin ; 
In Jesus's compassion the sick find a cure ; 
And (Jospel salvation is preach'd to the poor." 

And were a deputation sent unto us from this or 
any other land (as John sent to Christ), inquiring, "Is this 
the Gospel tliat should come, or do we loolc for another *?" 
we would humbly point to the eflects produced by tlie 
Gospel of Christ, and say, " Go hack to tJtOse who sent you, 
and shuic again those things which you do hear and see : the 
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
and the dead hear, the dead are raised up, and tJie poor hare 
the Gospel preached to them.'' And might Ave not add also, 
happy is he, whosoever he may be, who shall not be stum- 
bled at this report of the Gospel's triumph. 

" To us and to them is publish "d tlic word : 
Then let us proclaim our life-giving I^ord, 
\N'li() now is reviving his work in our days, 
And mightily striving to save us by grac<^ 

O Jesus ride on till all are subdued ; 
Tliy mercy make known, and si)rinkl(! the blood ; 
Display thy salvation, and teach tlit- new song, 
To ever)' nntirjn, and people and tongue." 

III. My te.xt contains then tw(^ grand primitive facts ; fii-sf, 



206 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

it was the Gospel Jesus preaclied ; and, second, it was to 
the poor he mainly preaclied it. And, O, how wonderful, 
that he whose name was wonderful, and wliose title was 
" The Prince of Peace," Isaiah ix. 6, had not, in worldly 
parlance, a " better class " to preach to ! That he had a 
sprinkhng of " the higher classes " in his assemblies we 
know, but the mass of his hearers were the poor. To them 
he preached the Gospel emphatically, — that is, with a 
powerful and striking directness and reference. Wliy so ? 
Because they were more favorably disposed to receive it ; — 
were the most likely to profit by it. Besides they needed it 
the most, and were the most worthy of it, to indemnify them 
for their many providential privations. To this add, " the 
deceitfulnes of riches " were not so Hkely to " choke the 
word " in them, and render them " unfruitful," as Jesus 
hints in the parable of the Sower. 

ly. And now I have much to say ; in hints or sudden 
flashes of reference, may be, as much possibly as some of you 
may be able to bear ; but the still small voice within may 
tell you more, perhaps, than you would patiently hear from 
me. Jesus spoke of " good ground," for the Gospel seed ; 
but, I doubt, its largest tracks do not run through Mammon's 
territory. An old writer deprecated much investment of his 
ministerial toil there, shrewdly remarking that " where gold 
grows, plants do not prosper ;" adding that he was very sure 
*' where riches bore the bell it was poor soil for grace." Dr. 
Adam Clarke tells us of a rich man who was heard to 
exclaim, " There must be something exceedingly malignant 
and poisonous about riches to hinder me thus from enjoying 
the consolations of the Gospel." Austin used to say, 



PRIMITIVE TATROXS OF THE GOSPEL. 207 

'' Earthly liclios are full of poverty." And equally true 
was the saying of another, that a purse full of gold, and a 
heart empty of gi'ace are usual companions ! — adding that 
under many " silken coats " were many "thread-bare souls" 
to be found. Uold man : how dare he speak so before the 
rich and the well-dressed ! He knew them well, as every 
pastor should, and did not mince matters with them. 
Neither did Jesus when he thundered in their ears, " Woe 
unto you that are rich for ye have received^ your consolation^ 
And for this reason he would have the disconsolate poor 
find their consolation in the Gospel. And so unto the poor 
he preached the Gospel. 

V. llie rich and the ureat were drawn to hear him ; 
some from curiosity and others from a worse motive, — " to 
catch him in his words ; or, " to entangle him in his talk," 
and so betray him to the authorities. Some of them, as at 
this day, were purse-proud, others pen-proud, or office-proud, 
or possession-proud ; while others had pride of family, sta- 
tion, honor and influence to sustain. " These are the play- 
things that keep the eyes awake % " Aye ! not only 
*' o'nights," as the Scotchman said, "but o'days, also." 
They carried with them a sleepless attention to them, lest at 
some unguarded moment their feelings, under his preaching, 
should betray them ; especially did they know the conse- 
quences of becoming followers of the despised Nazarenc. 
Xicodemus was " heavy laden " with a sense of the peril 
when he visited Jesus by night. John iii. 1. There is much 
of this sort of thing in the world yet ! 

VI. He who said gold-dust has put out more eyes than it 
has done good to hearts uttered a great trutli ; and that the 



208 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

golden wedge and the silver quinsy had made many men 
silent and speechless in good causes. Jesus knew the hearts 
of all his hearers. "VYhile aU eyes v/ere turned towards him, 
while preaching he knew those that were troubled with the 
gold-dust or the silver quinsy. Behind the eyes of the body 
he saw the eyes of the soul squinting to this and that eartlily 
attraction ; illustrating the old fable of a young eagle asking 
a learned owl about a bird called merops, which, said the 
young eagle, they say can fly with its tail uppermost, and its 
head turned down towards the earth. " Pooh ! " said the 
bird of night, "this is a pure Action of men! man himself 
may be the merops : for, often his wishes fly to heaven with- 
out for a moment losing earth out of his sight ! " Jesus had 
such hearers, doubtless, especially among the wealthy. In 
proportion as earth had attractions such merop tendencies 
would be evident. Such often are the despisers of the poor 
and the destroyers of 'the poor. " The spoil of the poor is in 
your houses,'' was God's charge against the princes of Israel ; 
and others Avere charged with oppressing the poor and 
crushing the needy, saying at the same time, '•^ Bring, and 
let us drinhy God himself had to appeal to such, and 
expostulate. " Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge ? 
who eat up my people as they eat bread • they have not called 
upon God.'" No ! their eyes were not in that direction ! 
Perhaps this was the reason why such were called merops 
in the fable, for it signifies bee-eaters, a species of birds 
which eat bees ! Bees, like Christians, though the smallest 
creatures that fly, yet the produce of them is the sweetest 
thing in the world, and the most agreeable and delicious ; — 
" what is sweeter than honey ? " spoiled Snmson's riddle. 



PRIMITIVE PATRONS OF THE GOSPEL. 209 

What is sweeter than the love of God and tlie love of man, 
the product of religion in true Christians ? 

VII. The l^sahnist says, ^^ The poor committeth himself unto 
thee ; " that is unto God. And then God replies : " For the 
oppression of the poor^ for the sighing of the needij^ now ivill I 
arise saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from him that 
ptiffith at him." Necessities often force the 2)Oor to appeal 
unto God, or to look unto him. The best remedy for the 
poor is the Gospel, " and ttnto the poor,'' said Jesus, " the 
Gospel is preached ; and then pronounced a blessing upon 
him who Avould not be offended, or stumbled into unbelief at 
the fact. 

Vm. O, ye poor in this world, whether you are the 
devil's poor, poor and A^'icked ; or the Lord's poor, poor and 
righteous, to you is the word of this salvation sent ! Unto 
you is the Gospel preached ; you need it most. It would be 
sad to have a hell of poverty or hard work in this life, and 
hell of damnation in the next. God determines this need 
not be, by sending the Gospel especially to you. It will be 
your own fault should it ever be. Come away, then, and 
claim your inheritance in tlie Son of David by repentance 
and faith in his atonement. 

IX. You who are tlie Lord's poor, poor in this world, 
but rich in lUith, and heirs of a kiiiL-'doin : all hail ! I lionor 
you, the sons and daughters of a king, though you have not 
been called yet to put on your royal robes. But you shall, 
by and by. Every accent of the Gospel is but a fresh 
assurance of this. Cliocr up ! You arc, as the groat ones 
of the world, sometimes chosen to be inrog., lliat is, In dis- 
gnisc, so a,s not to bo rccogui/.cd or known. — then llicy 



210 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

receive no more honor or attention than common folks ; 
unless it happens that grace of manner betray them, as be- 
longing to a more elevated rank. Let it be so with you now, 
ye heirs of glory, ye nobles of the Royal Family of Heaven ! 
only let the heavenly graces of your true character shine out 
through the disguise in which the Lord has caused you to 
travel towards your kingdom in the skies. It is on these 
accounts we honor you this day ; and above all the nobles 
of England, salute you this day, Ail hail / 

X. That young lady of a wealthy family, answered the 
amazed and contemptuous look of her proud brother well, 
when she introduced one of these to him, saying, " A kings 
daughter, brother f a poor old woman, deeply pious, had 
been invited to a seat in the drawing-room, with whom this 
accomplished young lady, a child of God, also, was holding 
sweet Christian communion when the proud brother entered. 
She noticed his look and rebuked it effectually by rising 
gracefully, and politely introduced the heir of glory, — " A 
Kings daughter, hr other ! hut she has not yet put on her fine 
clothes^ And did she say anything more than the truth? 
He was abashed and withdrew ! 

And you, ye comparatively poor, poor when compared 
with England's proud aristocracy ! You, ye bone and sinew 
of England's strength ! Ye patrons and pillars of the cause 
of Christ upon earth ! — all hail ! It is to you a learned 
writer paid that just tribute of acknowledgment: ^''^j the 
comparatively poor the Gospel is still best received." The 
truth of this is evident all over Christendom. 

XL And you, the Lord's rich ! — for the Lord has his 
Abrahams yet upon earth, who are " very rich in cattle, in 



PRIMITIVE PATRONS OF THE GOSPEL. 211 

si/vrr. und in iiohl.'' Gen. xiil. 2. And as Abraliam was 
eallcil '• tlie father of the faithful," so are some of you 
*' fatliers to the faithful;" sure pledges to the Church of 
Christ of the fuhilmcnt of that still higher state of things 
lield in promise, when kiugs shall be our nursing fathers, 
and queens our nursing mothers ; for the mouth of the Lord 
liatli spoken it. Isaiah Ixlx. 23. And the Lord has yet 
upon earth *' honorable counsellors " and " honorable women 
not a few ;" kindred spirits to Joseph of Arimathea, an 
honorable counsellor, who was not ashamed to go in unto 
Pilate and crave the body of Jesus. Mark xv. 43 ; and to 
those '• honorable women " of Berea, Avho believed, and 
were not ashamed to espouse the cause of Paul and Silas, 
because they were tlie messengers of Christ. Acts xvii. 12. 
All hail to }ou, their noble successors upon earth ! You 
have been the successors of many, and we honor you ! for 
iliough you are rich, yet being poor in spirit, yours also is 
the Kingdom of Heaven. O what a contrast between you 
and some below you ; wlio are poor and proud ! You are 
rich, and yet poor in .-piril ; — a pleasing illustration of 2 
Cor. viii. 9 ; ''For ye know tlie grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that though he icas rich, yet for your sakks he 
KECAME POOR tJicit ye througli his 2)ove?/y migJit be rich^ 
W\ hail, then, ye j)ecnliar ones and race, — rich tind deeply 
devoted to God, — rich in good works also — hail ye clioiccst 
flowers of England's glory, who, knowing that you hold 
upon " uncertain riches," is as frail and uncertain as the 
lu'ld of the flower to its stem, arc wise to lay np in store for 
yourselves a good foundation against the time to Cfjuie that 
you may lay hold on eternal life ; — and as an evidence 



212 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

thereof, you are ricli in good works, ready to distribute, 
willing to communicate, because your trust is in the living 
God icho has given you alt things richly to enjoy. 1 Tim. 
vi. 17, 18, 19. All hail ! For unto the poor in spirit also 
the Gospel is preached ! 

XII. My time has expired. I did intend to have blown 
a loud blast in the ears of Mammon, but must reserve it for 
another time. Amen. 



CHAPTEK XXXI. 

A LOUD BLAST IN TIIE EAR OF 3IAM:M0N. A SER3I0N. 

And til e 2)00)' have the Gospel preached unto them." — Matt. xi. 5. 
" And the common people he.inl MmgLidlyy — Matt. xii. 37. 

'***''" is said in ]Mark v. 7, tliat our Lord sent forth his 



!ir 



^ A^^ Disciples " by two and two " to preach repentance 
^^2^ throuLrh tlie land. Why by two and two, but tliat 
they might stand l)y to encourage and support each other, 

IL AVell, I have selected these two expressive declara- 
tions for a somewhat similar purpose, that they may go forth 
and sound an alami in Zion that may echo like the sound of 
a trumpet over the territories of Mammon ; that as the fame 
of Jesus reached the ears of the Herod, so may that of these 
" two witnesses," if I may call them so, reach the ears of 
Mammon. These two texts mutually support and reflect 
each other, as the Old and New Testament reflect one 
another, and are linked together, and go together, as the 
Lord's testimonies to man. My texts are like tlie two 
chcrubims whicli lookrd one fovrLrd aiKtt.Jirr as /hnj sjirrad 
tlinr irin;:s on In^h.. cf/V'iinii, the mekcv-s?:at. Kxod. 



214 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

XXV. 2. For they look toward each other as they spread their 
ample wings on kigh covering the heirs of mercy and eternal 
life ; the poor and the common people which comprise the 
great mass of the nation ; — the best and the most useful part 
of the nation. 

III. I was thinking the other day of that shrewd 
remark of old Hesiod, the Grecian poet, that " A half is 
often greater than the whole." There is both wit and 
wisdom in the idea. For sometimes in attempting to give 
the whole of what one has to say in a sermon, we spoil the 
whole ; and as we spin out the subject we tempt the hearers 
to go away saying, "the half of that would have been 
greater than the whole ;" and it is well if some of the hearers 
may not fretfully say, with Shakspeare's character, " the 
thread of his verbosity was greater than the staple of his 
argument ;" and so I concluded it would be prudent to 
" cut short " my last discourse and leave a worse half or a 
"better half" till another time. That time has come. And 
^'now he that hath ears to hear let him hear." 

lY. It is said in the Bible, " The Lord raiseth up the 
POOR out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the 
dunghill to set them among princes, and to make them 
inherit glory T This the Lord hath often done ; and oftener 
a thousand times more by the Gospel than by any other 
instrumentality. In the book of Psalms we have these 
words also, " Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness 
for the poory And where else is the goodness of God so 
fuUy prepared for the poor as in the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ? The Virgin Mary said, " He hath put down 
the mighty from their seats and exalted them of a low 



A LOUD BLAST IX THE EAR OF MA!\1M0N. 215 

degree. He hath filled the iiungrt with, good things, and 
the men he hath sent empty aicay'' And tell me, O tell 
mc, where is this oftener done, than under the sound of the 
everlasting Gospel ! 

V. Glad am I this day, my brethren, tliat there are ears 
present to hear these things Avho should hear them. Pray, 
O prav, tliat tliey may hear me patiently, for I have some 
very pointed things to say. Your hearts, I perceive, are 
alive to the theme ; and I need not shout so loud in your 
ears as my namesake James had to shout in the ears of 
his brethren : " Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not 
God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs 
of the kingdom which he hatli promised to them that love 
him ? lUit ye liave despised the poor. Do not rich men 
oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats ? Do 
not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are 
all called!" James ii. o, 6, 7. They had been sho^^^ng 
partiality in giving the best seats to persons who came in 
adorned with a gold ring and goodly apparel, — proofs of 
his opulence, his ring and his coat, being the best quaHties 
of the man, was conducted to a good place ; wliile the 
poor man. — a poor saint, perhaps, Avhosc heart was 
better than liis coat, was allowed to stand, or liad a 
sort of foot->t<)ol seat as good enough for him. No wonder 
James had to shout aloud, "Ilearkon!" and O how 
soon he entlmmed the poor saints in tlieir proper position, 
the chosen of (iod, and li -irs to a kingdom I Tliink ye, 
my beloved brothrcn, that botli my texts wen^ not in 
the mind of St. James? Yes! tlioy h.ad founrl tlie pearl 
which the rifh despiscfl ; — they were poor in tlii.- >vorld 



216 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

and despised of men, but they were loved and prized of 
God! 

YI. Hallelujah ! The Gospel is preached to the poor, 
and the common people heard him gladly ! And yonder 
sits one whom the Lord has reduced from wealth and afflu- 
ence ; and dubbed him a knight of the royal order of " the 
common people," who still hear the Gospel gladly. Let him 
rejoice. Let him also tliink of what our Lord says about 
" the deceitfulness of riches," how " they choke the 
word and render it unfruitful;" and think much besides 
upon Eev. iii. 17. Hearken, "Because thou sayest I am 
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and 
knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable and 
poor, and blind, and naked." Whiat! and not know it. 
Deceitful, indeed ! Aye, and uncertain as deceitful ; 
" uncertain riches," says Paul ; making themselves wings, 
and flying away as an eagle towards heaven, as he in 
Proverbs speaks. " Your riches are corrupted, and your 
garments are moth-eaten," said St. James. That which is 
corrupted corrupts, as we see every day. Think of that, O 
thou reduced one ! and bless God for thy escape from cor- 
ruption ! If many of the rich around us would speak out 
they would cry out with him in the seventh of Romans, " O 
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ?" You heard of the tree which, stripped 
of its bark, lasted a great while, but if allowed to keep its 
bark on, it was sure to rot soon. Riches are a bark Avhich 
have rotted many a sound and shining Christian ! Praise 
God, then, that Providence has barked you ? Your appetite 
for the Gospel, and desires after God may be more lasting. 



A LOUD BLAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 217 

He who said he would rather go whipped to heaven 
than charioted to hell was a \\ise man ; and so, also, was 
he who preferred footing it to heaven before coaching it to 
hell. 

Yes ! my humbled brother ! Praise God for that. You 
are a safer and a happier man than once ! You were in 
the peril of him of whom Jesus spoke, when he declared that a 
camel might easier go througli a needle's eye, than he into 
the Kingdom of Heaven. Mark x. 24, 27. How thankful 
then should you be. But O, you cannot be truly so, nor 
happy, until you are bom again, and an heir to a better inherit- 
ance tlian ever this earth promised you. Do you not realize 
this ? AVell, then, unto you is the Gospel preached ? 

V. Let none think me harsh or disrespectful in what I 
liave already said about the rich as a class, or may yet say. 
I have uttered nothing more so severe than an old divine did 
in this same England centuries ago. Hearken to tlie flowing 
blast with which he saluted their ears ! " A rich family, the 
richest in the land, but %\'ithout godliness, is what? — a Gol- 
gotha, a place of frightful skulls; a church-yard full of car- 
casses. There is nothing there but gilded rottenness and 
gohlen damnation," ]>e sure of one thing, such godless 
families did not invite him to dine with them often after such 
a blast. And hearken, we may rest equally sure that if any 
godly rich heard him that day he was by them none the less 
esteemed. 

VI. Again, let me caution, let ncjne be ofFondcd or 
imagine I have any pique against the rich as a class. I have 
none whatever. No! none of thorn have injured nio at all! 
some of them, indeed, are my personal friends, — my hearers 

10 



218 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

frequently ; and they know I esteem them highly. Facts 
must be stated, that it is a hard thing for such to obtain or 
retain real religion. But I do not argue, of course, against 
the possibility of both. Facts would contradict me if I did. 
Jesus forbids the sentiment where he shows " That what is 
impossible with men is possible with God.'' Matt. xix. 26. Facts, 
glorious instances have proved it so ; but this reference to 
the omnipotence of God in the accomplishment, certainly 
bespeaks it to be a difficult case ! He seemed to soften it 
some by adding : " How hard it is for them that trust in 
riches to enter into the Kingdom of God." ■ But how hard to 
have riches and not to trust in them for happiness, instead of 
the grace of God. That was the bane of the rich farmer 
who talked largely of pulUng down his barns to build upon a 
larger scale ; and saying to his soul, " Soul, eat, drink and 
he merry, for thou hast much goods, etc.,'' which provoked 
Ambrose to say, that had the man possessed the soul of a 
hog he could not have said more ; for certainly these things 
were fitter to satisfy swine than an immortal spirit ! 

The same sad temptation, it is to be feared, sank the rich 
man into hell ; — to whom Abraham said, " Son, remember that 
thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." But alas! 
alas ! — ^the comforts of religion were not among liis good 
things ! No, else he never had lifted up his eyes in hell I 
Luke xvi. 23. He was duped into contentment with these 
things ; and so, poor man, he lost his soul ! 

Vn. And may not these things account for tlie fact 
acknowledged by our Lord, that it was the poor who had 
the Gospel preached unto them ? Because they were the 
most likely to receive it and profit by it ; so suitable was it 



A LOUD BLAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 210 

to their wants and longings ; so likely also that they would 
cherish and retiun its consolations — and that " the common 
people " or middle classes heard him gladly. 15ut let that 
pass. As in our Lord's time so it is in ours, there is a ter- 
rible necessity for loud and repeated blasts of truth's trumpet 
in the ear of Maimnou ! 

Vni. And now, let " A looker-on," who has had some- 
thing to remark on '' the aspect of tilings," hearken. 
Knowest thou not, that a similar question was once asked 
during our Lord's own ministry, " Have any of the rulers 
or of the Pharisees believed on him ? " Thinkcst thou that I 
feel it to be no honor to be circumstanced as my Master ? 
Is it not, as he once hinted, enough that the servant be as 
his ]Master, and the disciple as his Lord ? 

Allow me, if you will, to enjoy this honor ! Albeit, Avho 
can tell how many great ones may be brought to ground 
their arms at the feet of Jesus before I leave York ! How- 
ever, my nets, I confess, were not made to catch whales ! 
lord.-s, earb', dukes and sir knights, and other nobles and 
great folks, ricli men, and the learning-puffed. Most of these 
are harpooned ali'eady by tlie devil, and if he should happen 
to pay out line enougli to my fisliing grounds what would 
become of my poor nets ! — " Much ado about nothing," over 
again, it is to be feared ! The harpoon is certainly in them ; 
they arc on Satan's line whotlior you believe it or not. AVhat 
would become of my nets ? If such were entangled some 
value might be placed upon their " oil-money ;" but if minus 
<jf the fragrance of exalted piety they might become a curse 
instead of a lilessing. N<» ! there is litilc flciriMiid lor them 
ill the ( io~i)f'l-ni;irkct, as St. I'aiil shows: " h'or ye see your 



220 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the 
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But 
God hath chosen the foolish tilings of the world to confound 
the wise ■; and God hath chosen the weak things of the 
world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base 
things of the world and things which are despised hath God 
chosen, yea, and things which are not to" bring to nought the 
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." 
A remarkable passage that, is it not ? And how ingeniously 
he sets off the " foolish things " against " the wise ;" and 
" the weak things " against the migbty ;" and " base things " 
and " despised," and things which, in the estimation of the 
great Avorld, are as if they were not, yet such really bring 
to nothing the things which are considered (ffreat somethings 
in the world ! 

Nevertheless, I would not limit the power of God ; but 
would shake out my nets and let them down for a haul on 
the right side of the ship, and leave Him to take care of the 
meshes ! For, as Paul said, "Not many of the noble, etc." 
were called, yet we may infer there were some. And " is 
there anything too hard for God ? " The impossibilities of 
men are the possibilities of God. So you see I am not alto- 
gether hopeless, although quite contented the while that my 
nets take an abundance of what the great world call " the 
small fish," but they are of the right I^ind — such as Avere in 
shoals around my Lord's nets : " And the common people 
heard him gladly ! " Don't you suppose Peter was very well 
contented with that " great multitude of fishes," in the 
memorable morning draught, Luke v., though perliaps there 
were no " great ones " among them ? especiaflj', as he 



A LOUD BLAST IX THE EAR OF MAMMON. 221 

moiirnrully conlbssed : '* We have toiled all the night and have 
taken nothing ? " .\ low big fish might liave endangered Lis 
nets. l>ut as it was miracle all round, it would have made 
no dittcrence to the nets, I suppose. Well, sir, like Peter, 
I must be very ihankl'ul for whatever sort of fish are taken in 
my nets ; nor be disheartened, that, Avhile gathering the good 
into vessels, tee have to throw the bad aivay ! Matt. xii. 47, 48. 

Besides, if successful with the great and wise, Avould 
there be no danger to me from pride or vanity ? Either 
would be to me a calamity. Hitherto my Lord has pre- 
served me, I trust, from sinning against that decree, " tliat 
no flesh shmthl glory in his 'presence,'' ^Vdd to this, with 
ordinary help from above, I could catch five hundred of sucli 
as the Apostle speaks of in the above passage while 
arranging my nets to take one of these " gTcat ones," and, 
perhaps, miss him after all ! So you see, I lack faith ! 

IX. If those taken in my nets are negatives in those 
things in which " the great world" are pleased to lodge true 
greatness, wealth and honorable titles, be it so. Let that 
world see to it that the Lible docs not prove them negatives 
in all things in which it lodges true gi'catness ! and so we 
are content to let the one be a set-off against the other; and 
let the Bible and eternity strike off the eternal distinctions. 

In English grammar two negatives destroy one another, 
or arc equivalent to an ailirmative. Ihit according to St. 
l*aul in the passage already quoted, my negatives make 
naughts of your positives, while they are changed into true 
affirmatives in all that is holy and wise and just, and (jf good 
report in Ilcavt-n aljovo and in iIk; earlli bcncalli ! Tlicy 
are rich in faith, and lieirs of the Kingdom, llallclujali ! 



222 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

X. IjuI hearken again ! We have no wish to boast. 
That miglit set us a glorying, not in the Lord, but in men. 
That would be sinful. But, in justice I think it due to say, 
that the subjects of this work of grace will compare number 
for number with the great majority of the accredited 
members of other churches, not excepting your " Establish- 
ment." They are as intelligent, as weU-to-do, as the 
generality of their fellow-citizens, and appear about as well 
as any of them. It is no subject or basis, indeed, of our 
glorying, although w^e allude to it ; as Paul, on another 
occasion of self-defence, " I am become a fool in gloryi/ig : 
ye have comjjelled me ! " 2 Cor. xii. 11. But let that pass. 
Each individual in the community has a soul that must live 
for ever in weal or woe. Each has been redeemed by the 
blood of Christ. Each may be an heir of a crown that 
fadeth not away. Positions in civil society are temporal, 
and pass away for ever with life. Not so with positions 
that are eternal. This needs no argument — no illustration. 
Higher than the highest in this world becomes the child of 
God there, though poor as Lazarus while Iiere ! 

XIL Ah, my friend! These worldly distinctions 
"bulk largely in the filing eye of Time." But they look 
small to them whose eye has tried to measure the grandeur 
of the human soul aside from all such distinctions. The 
titles conferred by grace are the only true and honorable. 
That celebrated artist understood this, who when dying dic- 
tated an epitaph for his tomb-stone to the following effect; — 
that, what he was as an artist was of some importance to him 
Avhile he lived ; but w^hat he really was, as a believer in Jesus, 
is the only matter of importance to him now that he is dead ! 



A LOUD BLAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 223 

XIII. It is evident many of your " great folks," and 
some of your little ones in this city do not understand these 
things ; at least not practically. Do you ? I would like to 
sliout again in all their ears, St. James' reminder, '^ Hearken, 
hath not God chosen the jwoj- of this ivorld, rich in faith, and 
Jieirs of the kingdom whicJi he hath 'promised to them that love 
him /" What is l^ngland with all her glor}^ when compared 
with such a kingdom I 

But should that fail I would covet one long and loud 
blast through that trumpet blown so efl'cctually in the cars 
of the rich in tliis country centuries ago by an eminent 
divine. '* Hearken ! the nobles and potentates of the earth, 
many of them, are without justifying faith and the privileges 
of adoption. They can justify their titles to houses and 
lands, crowns and sceptres, but not to this. They have no 
saving faith in Chn>t^ — no pardon. They have authority to 
rule over men, but none to Decome the sons of God. John 
i. 12. ^ But as many as received Jiim, to than gave he power 
to become the sons of God, even to than that believe in his name.' 
Therefore, let those who liave full tables, heavy purses, rich 
lands, but no C'iirlst, be rather objects of pity than envy. Is 
it not better, like certain cattle, to be kept lean and hungry, 
than with the fatted ox to tumble in flowery meadows, 
thence to be led away to the shambles !" A hard and trou- 
blesome blast that. O, would to Clod that I could make 
it Sf»und like tliundcr once more all over these kingdoms ! 

XIV. However, until the concluding intimations of that 
trumpet arc fulfillfd J can vt.-ry well alfoi-d to preach the 
Ciospcl to 'Mho [)()0r " and to " the common ])coplo," who 
hear it ghidly. it was for llic Ijcndit oi' these, I (h)ubt not, 



224 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVINa. 

the Lord called me into the ministry. It would much 
surprise me to find it otherwise. You see how candid arc 
my acknowledgments. 

The world has its great ones, and Christ has his little 
ones ; but these are the only happy ones, even though they 
humbly say with St. Paul, " Unto me who am less than the 
least of all saints is this grace given.'' Honor to such little 
ones then, and let all the people say "Amen !" 

Xy. God's poor are preferable to the devils rich, 
and better off any day. What ihinkest thou ? As to the 
vast majority of my hearers, I know very well what they 
tliink ! Could you say Amen to that remark of a plain 
man, that he would value a diamond, though in the dirt, 
above a pebble, or a clod of earth set in gold ; a child of 
God in poverty and rags rather than a devil's son, though, 
like him of old, clothed in purple and fine linen, and who 
fared sumptuously every day! Luke xvi. 19. 

XVI. And hearken again : next to the cross of Christ, 
if I glory in any thing it is this ; to seize upon Satan's ill- 
treated poor, whose consciences, as one remarked, are as 
badly torn as their clothes ; aye, and their souls more 
abused than their bodies ; and to bring them to Jesus that 
he may put the ring of his love upon their finger, and shoe 
them -with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, Ephes. vi. 
15, and clothe them with the best robe of his righteousness. 
Phil. iii. 15 ; aye ! and their outer garments as sound and 
respectable as their conscience ! Such are sure to hate and 
oppose their old master wonderfully : — and no wonder ! it 
was too bad, they think, to put them off with a hell of 
poverty in this world, and treat them to a hell of fire and 



A LOUD BLAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 225 

brimstone in the next. Such, also, love their neAv masterB 
with an intensity that wakes the acclamation of congratula- 
ting angels. 

The (le^•i^s rich, when they happen to get saved, cannot 
help rellecting that thov had the means and opportunities of 
many enjoyments in his service ; enjoyments which they 
renounced for the rugged service of the Cross. This is apt 
to cool their love, and in times of temptation and trial lead 
them to say ^^-ith her of old, " / will go and return to my 
first husband : for then ivas it letter icith me than now." Hosea 
ii. 7. And return they do, many of them, iu practice or in 
ailection. 

XVII. Many years ago one shrewdly remarked that in 
the creation of the world God gave the water to the tish, 
tlie earth to the beasts, and the air to tlie foAvls, and after- 
wards made man in his own image that man might ever say, 
" Whom have I in heaven but thee f and there is none upon 
earth I desire besides tliee^ Psalms Ixxiii. 25. Aye ! but 
there are gi'cat folks in and around this city who ginisp at 
all tliese, — water, earth, air, the portion of the fish, the 
beasts, and the fowls! Nor are their lips altogether 
strangers to the claim of Jeremiah, '* The Lord is my portion , 
aaiih my soul /" AVhich is all very well if the latter claim 
goes deeper than the ]ij)S ; but if only from the teeth out- 
ward, it is about as valuable as the kiss of Judas. 

Jerusalem was in ruins when Jeremiah exclaimed, " The 

Lord is my portion, saith my soul.'' "Is" and "my," ni:irk 

those little wonls, verbs and ])roiiouns are great in theology; 

there i.s a world of divinity in tlicm, as Lutlicr usccl to say ; 

10* 



226 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" IS my portion " now, not shall be ; reminding one of Matt. 
V. 3. " Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the 
Kingdom of Heaven," — " is," — they enjoy it now, and have 
not to wait till they die. That is the glory and value of 
religion ! So that good man who exclaimed the other night, 
" A portion in possession is better than a portion in rever- 
sion ; as a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Did 
you not almost cry out with another, " That's true !" And 
ponder well the pronoun, " My portion." There is a great 
difference between the mine or thine in the possessions of this 
world, — my house or thy house, etc. It is thine with regard 
1o the Lord as a portion; he might be thy portion and not 
mine. And yet my right to God for the portion of my soul 
is as good as thine ; for God may be every man's portion as 
the sun is every man's sun, the air every man's air, and the 
ocean every man's ocean. 

XVin. "What more shall I say ? A " strange minister" 
must not come to this city in search of atheists, speculative 
atheists. But if practical atheism be nothing more nor less 
than " living without God in the world," they are as thick in 
your streets and squares as men with hats on their heads ! 

Let him begin to preach facts, real repentance, real 
faith, a real pardon, a real " new hirth unto righteousness" the 
witness of the spirit, real holiness, and real union with God, 
or a real hell instantly after death ; let him preach these 
things in downright earnest, lifting up his voice like a 
trumpet, smiting his hands and stamping with his feet as 
the Lord God commanded the prophet, and he will rouse 
croakers around him thick as the plagae-frogs that swarmed 
in the palace of Pharaoh ! 



A LOUD BLAST IX TUE EAR OF MAMMON. 227 

That is ii great liint in the New Tostament tliat the 
goodness of God should lead men to repentance. How 
much of his goodness has tlie Lord of earth and sky lavished 
upon multitudes around us ! MHiat returns does he receive ? 
How small the minority Avho inquii'e vdih the Psalmist sin- 
cerely: " What sliall I render unto the Lord for all his 
benefits ?" Where are the signs of real repentance among 
thousands ? 

^Vlas ! open doors for the world, but closed doors 
against Christ. A heart insatiable as the grave for the 
world, but cither sluit up, or puny as an invalid, in the last 
stages, for things spiritual and divine. 

It is said in the book of Proverbs, " A mans gift makes 
way for him." So should it be mth the gifts of God. Is it 
80 here*? AMiat rich temporal gifts has God bestowed upon 
the people of this city ! Do these gifts make way for him ? 
Do they afford him an easy admission into their hearts ? or 
a chief seat therein when he does enter ? I appeal to aU 
such highly favored ones now present ! Pather do not 
these gifts prejudice against the bountiful donor I Do they 
not furnish mighty arguments why God should not have the 
chief place in your hearts ? why you should not take up your 
cross and be singidar for Christ ? Arc there not hearts 
present which, like your city gatcB, stand open niglit and 
day for all visitors, although, porliaps, ready to be shut 
against an enemy, wore it " war time ;" — open to all visitors, 
by night and In' day, are some hearts among you, but 
instantly closed when God ap])r(jach('S. He is llie enemy 
against whom the gates of the city of iNIansoul (to use an 
idea of r>unyan) arc closed. When the Ixjrd of all your 



228 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

mercies comes he finds closed gates and bolted doors. He 
knocks, and waits, and knocks again, and stands, and cries 
to rebellion within, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : 
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I icill come in to 
him, and will sup with him, and he with me.''- Rev. iii. 20. 
What response ? Are the doors opened instantly ? No, no ! 
but he has still to cry, "Behold, I stand." "Behold, be 
amazed at it, yet I stand and knock !" Aye, he stands and 
knocks, when he might burst open the door !" 

XIX. Hear me all, such of you as have ears to hear, if 
the gates and doors of your hearts are not speedily opened, he 
may spoil all your pleasant things, as a general often does to 
a city besieged ; — cutting down their fruit and forest trees, 
desolating their gardens, and spoiling the country around. 
God, who is now standing knocldng, may do all this.' He 
may cut off your supplies, and withdraw all his gifts. 
Hearken ! " For she did not know that I gave her corn 
and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold which 
they prepared for Baal. Therefore, will I return and take 
away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the 
season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax, and 
will destroy her vines and her fig-trees." Hosea ii. 8, 12. 
Aye, and he may Avithdraw your friends and lay them in the 
grave, or as bad as if they were ; covering youY cheeks with 
tears, and your souls with mourning, black as the funeral 
weeds which shall drape youv bodies. 

Hear me all of you ! all who are well-to-do in this 
world, possessing my Lord's gifts, and repulsing himself from 
your hearts I too rich or too comfortable to receive the 
Gospel with the poor of this world or " the poor in spirit ;" 



A T,OrD 15LAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 229 

hear me all of you. If sugiu- -will not preserve, brine may. 
If ever God has tried to preserve a city -with sugary mercies 
lie has this. l>ut if you are like to spoil altogether lie will 
put you do^^^l in biine : nor would it be the first time he has 
done so to York. Look into the annals of your city, and 
read that in this very month of August, the thirtieth day of 
it, one hiHulrcd and fifty four }ears ago, a mortal sickness 
broke out here by wliich eleven thousand persons died ! 
lie who cried out then to every citizen to behold the 
wounds of his bleeding city, that his sins had struck to the 
heart, was a faithful watchman. He also who insisted then 
that there -vNas no better physician than that every man 
should turn to be his own doctor, and prepare his own 
recipe ft)r the destruction of his own sins, and the cure of his 
own soul was a wise counsellor. 

The Lord God, whose Gospel you hear from Sabbath to 
Sabbath in vain, and whose rich temporal gifts you still 
enjoy, may again visit for these things. Briny tears may do 
tliat in which sugared blessings have failed. All hail ye 
tears Avliicli are ahcady flowing from some eyes ! ropontiiig 
tears in some; in others "the tears that tell your sins 
forgiven !" I5ut, alas ! in others these sacred walls are 
closed, filled up, as those of old, with riiilistinc earth. 

The hand of our God i> outstretched still for mercy or 
for judgment, the sceptre or the sword. He spoke truly 
who said, when lenitives will not cure, corrosives will be 
tried, searings and cuttings, liiit, alas ! if the gangrene of 
wickedness has penetrated too deep your case is desperate ; 
aye, and desperate measures will be resorted to, and 
desperate results. Health may depart at the bidding of 



230 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

God, that the body may be as badly off as the soul, and as 
desperately in peril. He that hath ears to hear let him hear. 
The battering rams of disease and death may batter open 
the door of your hearts, aye, and batter down tlie walls of 
your bodies, and place your souls under an eternal arrest ! 
Aye ! and all the while the walls and gates of your ancient 
city may remain as of yore, standing as to-day, hoary with 
age and honor. 

XX. One of the fathers used to say, " Poverty is the 
highway to Heaven." Aye ! good father ! if God calls us 
to it, and we are really. on our way there independent of it, 
otherwise poverty may be the highway to hell ! Many of the 
devil's children are poor enough, but that does not prove 
them on the way to Heaven. A man may be poor iand yet 
not " poor in spirit," but of the really such Jesus says, 
*' Theirs is the hingdoni of Heaven ;" mark the Httle verb . 
" w," not shall he ; but theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. 
They enjoy a heaven now of " righteousness and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost," which St. Paul calls " the kingdom 
of God." As was remarked the other evening, the wealth of 
Heaven is theirs, because the wealth of Heaven is at the 
command of their Lord whom they humbly but intensely 
love, and that wealth he lavishes upon them ; heaps upon 
them the choicest jewels of grace and beautifies them with 
salvation ; gives them many a bunch of grapes by the way, 
observes one, and many a draught of the wine of the king- 
dom to make their hearts glad ; settles heaven and earth 
upon them and says, " All that I have is thine." St. Paul 
says as much in Rom. viii. 17, " Andif children then heirs, 
heirs of God and joint-heirs ivith Christ" But he imme- 



A LOUD BLAST IX THE EAR OF MAMMON. 231 

diately adds, " If so be that we suiFer with him that we may 
be also gloritied together." To be poor and to suffer, or to 
be poor in spirit and to suffer wrong and persecution, are 
companions. To be poor does not prove a man to be on the 
heavenly way, unless he is poor in spirit also ; humbled and 
broken down by sorrow for sin ; or, having received pardon 
through fiiith in the blood of the Lamb, is humbled to the 
dust under a sense of unworthiness. Then he becomes one 
of Christ's poor, rich in faith, and an heir of the kingdom. 
He is accounted ricli then by all the angels in heaven ! 

XXI. Unto such poor it is the delight of my heart to 
preach the Gospel. The sight of them in the congi*egation 
does my heart good. " Hallelujah ! " Yes, and hallelujah 
again ! There are wonderful fortunes made in these days. 
How many arise fi-ora their beds daily in this city, poor as 
the devil and sin can make them in body or soul, and retire 
to their beds at night rich as grace can make them now, and 
possessing a title to a croM-n that fadeth not a^ay, reserved 
in Heaven for them I 

It is the Gospel that has done it all. Tliey are no riclier 
in worldly goods than before, and may possibly remain so, 
many of them ; yet, to each Jesus may say, " I know thy 
works and tribulation and -poverty, but tJiou art rich.'' 
Kev. ii. 9. Tlio world laughs at such paradoxes, and calls 
them absurdities, that is, inconsistent with reason, and out 
of all character with its notions and fitness of things. To 
thi:« day the world cannot comprehend Jesus, where he says, 
" whosoever will save his ///c shall lose it : and whosoever 
will lose his life for my sake shall find it." To tliis day the 
world cannot understand the Aposth; ^vherc he says, " As 



232 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

having nothing, yet possessing all things ; — as poor, yet making 
many rich ; — sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; — if any among 
you seemetli to be tvise, let him become a fool that he may 
be wise / " How intolerable are such sentiments to the 
proud-spirited of this world! But it is thus, as St. Paul 
says again, that God destroys the luisdom oj the uise,. and 
brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent, and turns 
into foolishness the tvisdom of this world. 1 Cor. i. 19, 20. 
There is a divinity in such sentiments which goes beyond all 
the world's philosophy. Happy for all of you, whether rich 
or poor, if you understand and properly estimate such 
divinity. 

XXII. But alas! alas! There are some among you 
poor and proud; — ^poor-spirited enough to serve the devil, 
but too high-spirited to serve Christ ! — enough to make 
devils grin, and angels shudder and weep. Too poor to 
enter the drawing-rooms and gay assemblies of the wealtliy ; 
but too proud to repent and believe the Gospel, and thus 
to be welcomed into the assemblies of the royal heirs of 
Heaven. 

And then, there are others among you M'ho are rich in 
trade or in acquired wealth, or in prospects of an inherit- 
ance below, or rich in morality and natural goodness, and 
have no ne.ed of mercy ; to you the religion of the Gospel is 
a DRUG. God pity you ! for it is a drug we have seen many 
of your brethren longing for on the death-bed, and like the 
noble lord at the gate of Samaria, dying without tasting of 
the great salvation. 

Such as you are too big to be saved ! Jesus says, 
" Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say unto you. 



A LOUD BLAST IN THE EAR OF MAMMON. 233 

It-ill seek to enter in and shall not be able" No, indeed ! sucli 
things as I have noticed swell the soul that it cannot go 
tlirough the narrow gate of repentance and regeneration. 
Poverty of spirit is what they need to reduce the bulk of the 
soul. But it is the Gospel salvation alone can produce the 
necessary depletion. An old T^Titer illustrated the matter 
thus : " A gi'eat cable cannot go through the eye of a needle ; 
but let it be untwisted thread by tliread and made into small 
threads and it may. jSTow, poverty of spirit untwists the 
great cable of self-righteousness. It makes a man little in 
his OTvn eyes ; and now an entrance shall be made unto him 
richly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Ah ! that is it ! But many do not like to be thus 
untAN-isted out of all their greatness. Nor will they forsake 
the wortliless weed of self-righteousness for the healing herb 
of Gospel salvation. 

Among such are to be found those of whom one speaks, 
who resemble ships that have escaped the rocks of ship- 
A\Tecks, yet are cast away upon the sands. They escape the 
rocks of gross sins, yet are cast away upon the sands of self- 
righteousness. Do you all understand me ? Both the devil's 
rich and the devil's poor often parish upon the same sands. 

To be poor and not know it is a calamity. He that hath 
ears to hear let him hear — " ami knowest not that thou art 
poor.'" Bev. ili. 17. To be poor in this sense and not to 
know it is a calamity. " And knowest not tliat thou art 
blind;" — blind, and not know it! — ^like Seneca's girl, of 
wliDm we read in history, who was born blind but would not 
believe herself blind. "The house is dark," she would say, 
"but I am not blind." It was her mi-fortune, poor girl, not 



234 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

her sin to be blind. But with many of you, both rich and 
poor, it is both ; for you keep your eyes closed against the 
light, and will not open them. 

XXIII. There is much of what one of your own writers 
calls a plodding formality, and a grovelling professorship, 
with appetite for the serpent's food, the dust of the earth, in 
this old city of churches. Is this true ? and that eels are 
not fonder of mud than thousands are of the world. But 
why ask the question ? It is so in all large cities and towns, 
more or less. But such are as hard to be caught as the eels 
themselves, who bury themselves deep in mud. 

How many among you are like Saul of old, hidden 
among the stuff! Or, like Sisera in the tent of Jael, head- 
spiked to the earth ! ' Or, like the ostrich, which though it 
has wings, cannot rise, its body is so heavy. O, that my 
Lord would direct me to some Gospel war-shells, that might 
reach these Saul's among the stuff and fire it around them, 
and start them out into a nobler employment for their own 
souls and those of their neighbors ; shells that might at least 
awaken those Siseras who are in peril of a more terrible 
death than befel the warrior under the hammer of the wife 
of Jael ; shells that might reach these human ostriches with 
short-winged souls and heavy bodies, — the brute stronger 
than the rational, the animal running away with the man ! 

O, for some dream again, like that which instructed the 
young preacher hitherto unused to soul-saving. He had 
been preaching eloquently to the admiration of many, to 
their heads but not to their hearts and consciences. But 
sinners remained sinners, which he wondered at and 
deplored, and so did others ; for he and they did want a 



A LOUD BLAST IX THE EAR OF MAMMON. 235 

revival, and lie thouglit this was the way to bring it about. 
But it did not come, and he got discouraged, for not a soul 
got converted. But one night he had a dream. He thought 
he was fishing where there were plenty of fish, but he caught 
none. At length a pleasant little man approached whom 
he knew to be John "Wesley, Avho asked him, what luck ? 
He replied, " Xo luck but ill-luck ; I have not caught a 
single fish." — "Let me see your hooks," said Mr. W. " Oh! 
oh!" he exclaimed, "I sec how it is, my young friend, 
your hooks are all too large," and so putting his hand into 
his pocket he pulle'd out a handful of fish-hooks ; " Here," 
said he, " try one of them." He did so and was successful, 
and in the excitement awoke ; — and with this impression 
on his mind, that his sermons were not simple enough, that 
he had been preaching in too lofty a style, over the people's 
heads, instead of du'cctly to their hearts ; and that he must 
alter his whole style immediately if he would be successful. 
'•Enough!" he exclaimed, "it shall be done ;" and it was 
done, and a great revival followed. 

XXIV. Now, then, " Looker-on," are you satisfied *? 
I\ry hearers, wluit think ye ? Have I spoken too harshly of 
any class of your fellow-citizens? In presence of God and 
the IMble do you think I have ? I tell you plainly harsher 
things arc yet to l>e spoken. A heavier artillery must 
awaken from our spiritual batteries. At present you are 
witnesses, we are preaching repentance and faith in Christ 
with uncompromising energ}", to the offense of some who do 
not or will not, but sliould understand, regarding knowing 
the time and j)hiec of conversion, a ready but extreme point 
to reach certain classes of professing Protestants ; but c»tlier 



236 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

and sliai-per weapons are necessary to reach even these. 
There are some professors of religion who are a perplexity. 
They would puzzle the wisest theologians to know what to 
make of them ; — as much, perhaps, as certain shell-fish did 
the naturalists of old ; so slow of life and so slow of motion, 
and so inconstant ^\dthal, that they were a constant puzzlo 
whether they should be classed with vegetalive Hfe or sensi- 
tive hfe. It became a subject of controversy ! But the life 
of nature or the life of grace, — that is the question to be 
determined concerning these professors. O, may our Lord 
Jesus Christ determine it for all such this hour ; and speedily 
give that character to their religion, that they may be 
epistles of Christ known and read of all w£n. 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. 
Amen I 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



PLAIN DEALING AVITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. A SERMON. 



HE reader -vvill notice frequent allusion to " The 
^^>^7i Law Sermon " in this and the following discourses. 
^^^ P He will find extensive remarks descriptive of it 
and the effects in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Part 11. in 
this volume. Perhaps they had better have been inserted 
here, but it was thought desu-able to keep the Journal and 
Letters as much as possible together. 

" ^V7lO among you will give car to tJds ? who will hearken for tJte 
time to come ?" Isaiah xlii. 23. 

There are several charactei-s I \\ish to address. Those 
who have ears to hear let them hear ; especially that part of 
my discourse which it concerns them to hear, and which 
thoy wi<h to liear, which may profit them to hear, and 
wliich tli« v will licar in connection with their chosen cogno- 
men. A few remarks, fii'st, \)\ way of intnxkictioii. 

I. Aly text calls for attention ! " Who amomj you will 
give ear — v:ho icill hcarJcen ?" 



238 GLIMPSEb OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

The ear is the organ or instrument of hearing. By it we 
have the perception of sounds ; — the text refers to the ears 
of the body, and to the ears of the soul. St. Paul speaks of 
" the eyes of your understanding," and of " the hearing of 
faith," as if he would hint at the body's counterpart in the 
soul. 

n. The ear of the hody is the medium to the ear of the 
soul. The external ear appeals to the internal, the ear of 
" the inner man," of which Paul speaks. 

A German writer shows how by the undulatory vibra- 
tions of the air, put in motion by sounds, hearing is pro- 
duced. He illustrates it by the undulations of water set in 
motion by the fall of a stone therein. The speaker propels 
a quantity of air from his mouth in the utterance of a word, 
which communicates an undulatory motion to the external 
air, which reaches the drum of the ear, an elastic membrane 
at the bottom of the ear, tense as the skin upon a drum- 
head ; thus the sound passes through one membrane and 
cavity to another till it reaches the auditory nerve, which 
reaches the brain, and communicates the sounds to the soul 
or understanding. 

Thus far we know. Push inquiry farther, as to how by 
a word pronounced by another we receive an idea, and not 
a simple sound alone ; or how a tone can act upon the mind 
and produce so many different ideas ; we are obliged, with 
the German, to confess our ignorance. He and Pie alone, 
who appeals to the ear in my text, knoweth. 

in. The outward ear is sometimes dispensed with, — that 
is passed by, God speaking to the soul through the under- 
standmg or conscience alone, as is the case Avith those who 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 239 

refuse to hear liis word, or who hear T\'ithout profit. There 
is much said in the Scriptures of having ears to liear, and 
yet not heaiing. God undertakes then to make them hear. 
" Mine ears hast thou opened,'' says the Psalmist, " dtff^ed" 
as the margin has it, " mine ears hast thou digged.'' O, 
mtiy our God this night, by the poAver of the Holy Ghost, 
dig open the ears of your understanding and conscience, O 
sinner ! It was the Lord that opeued the ear of Lydia's 
heart, or Paul miglit have preached till his heart ached 
before it would have opened. Acts xvi. 14. 

IV. In my text God proposes to speak to the ear of the 
soul through the outward ear. And, so for as I may speak 
according to his oracles, so far may I hope that his voice 
may accompany mine. Amen. 

V. Earnest attention is required : " Hearken f " hearken 
for the time to come ;" — implies to hear eagerly. 

W. Self intei-est is imphcd. " Hearken for the time, to 
come." As much as to say, "Your best interest in the 
future depend upon your close and earnest attention. Hear 
me every soul of you !" A three-fold cord was never more 
firmly twitched together than those three,— our duty, his 
glory, and our good. I have one remark more. 

VII. It is regarding my late sennon on the Law — " The 
Law Sermon," as some of you have named it ; and very 
properly too, for there was very little Gospel in it, too little, 
alas ! However, it has been a sharp axe among you ; has 
he>Mi down, I find, no small amount of trees in tlie devil's 
lorests, prostrated and wounded sinners, — wounded almost to 
the death ; the true and proper material for this revival. 
But it has cut me ont plenty of work, in many wa}'s, some 



240 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

of which you may learn as I proceed. Eut, as St. Paul said 
on another occasion, '•^ I do not repent, though I did repent.'" 
2 Cor. vii. 8, for in many it has produced " a sorrow that 
worketh repentance to salvation not to he repented of ,'' — although 
others seem possessed of a very different feeling. 

I. Let "^. D." hearken. 1st. There are many texts, 
especially in the New Testament, wliich show the extent 
and spirituality of the second law of the decalogue. All 
those passages which prohibit idolatry in the affections are 
but as so many expositions of it ; the following takes the 
lead, I think, 1 John ii. 15, ^' Love not the world, neither the 
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the 
love of the Father is not in him.'' Sister to that is another in 
the same epistle, ^^ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.'' 
So, also, is the repeated injunction to love the Lord our God 
with all our hearts, and mind, and strength ; for, to do that, 
is the surest preservative from the violation of it. Much 
might be said just here, but I forbear. You perceive the 
drift of the remark. 

2d. There is a two-fold idolatry, — material, which is 
external ; and spiritual, which is internal in the soul ; either 
of which is a violation of the second commandment. Luther 
advanced a similar idea. Hear him : " There is an external 
idolatry, a bowing down of the body to worship wood, stone, 
beast, or heavenly host. There is a spiritual idolatr}--, the 
homage of the affections, loving the creature more than the 
Creator." The latter view, I iancy, cut the deepest in the 
Law Sermon, as there were but few Roman Catholics 
present. Was it not that which alarmed or fretted yourself? 

3. As to the seventh commandment I must bear aU that 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 241 

is said against " t]ie viilirarity and indelicacy of meddling 
"wdtli such a theme in a promiscuous audience." The cost 
has been counted long ago by the stranger. AAHiatever 
hardens, ruins and damns men, it is a God-sent preacher's 
duty to grapple with. And, if it is evident that the present 
participle is more appropriate to tlie present times, whatever 
is hardening, ruining and damning the bodies and souls of his 
fellow-men, he should grapple with the energy of a Samson. 

Besides, have you never read that fine sentiment of 
CoA\-per? — ^that ''the pulpit is the most important and 
effectual guard, support and ornament of virtue's cause." If 
the pulpit wink at that sin through fear of man or shame- 
facedness it betrays its trust ; vice stands unrebuked in its 
presence, and proceeds in its work of ruin. Nevertheless, 
God holds the preacher responsible for the consequences of 
his neglect or unfaithfulness. 

Ah, sir ! had you repeated those awful stanzas in one of 
the AVesleyan hymns as often as your speaker, you would 
understand him better. 

" Shall I to soothe the unholy throng, 
Soften thy truths and smooth my tongue, 
To gain earth's gilded toys, or flee 
The cross endured, my God, by tliee ? 
Awed hy a mortal's frown, shall I 
Conceal the Word of God most high ? 
How then before thee shall I dare 
To stand, or liow tliine ang<;r bear? 
Give me thy strength, God of jxnvcr ; 
Then let winds blow or thunders roar, 
Thy faithful witness will I be : 
'TIb fix'd ; I can do all through thee." 
11 



242 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

IV. With regard to the fourth commandmeut I would 
say with Dr. Chahners, that I have never yet met with the 
man who conscientiously obeyed all the other laws of the 
Decalogue, and treated the law of the Sabbath with dis- 
respect. When God makes a transfer of these command- 
ments from the tables of stone, and writes them upon the 
fleshy tables of the heart, he never omits the fourth com- 
mandment. It is always there with the other nine, and 
meets with as prompt a response as any one of the rest. This 
is nearly all T have to say to you, and let my hearers judge 
what I say ; but let me drop another word in your ear : 

V. You had better beware how you appeal to the Deca- 
logue ! Keep out of that court, I advise, nay I warn you ! 
If you are caught there it will not only rend your garments 
of self-righteousness in pieces, and break all your bones, as 
the Psalmist speaks ; but it will condemn and damn you for 
ever. There is no mercy in that court, sir, therefore keep 
out of it, which you never can unless you fly to Christ as a 
repenting, believing penitent. One may say of the Deca- 
logue court, as another centuries ago said, of one going into 
a law-suit in a court of civil law, that on going into law he 
finds the court full of invisible hooks ; when, on turning 
round to disembarrass himself from one he is straightway 
caught by another. First his cloak, then the skirts of his 
coat,' then his sleeves, till ere long everything is torn from 
him, and, like a gipsy, he escapes, because he is so stripped 
there is no farther hold upon him ! It is thus, my hearer 
and critic, the Law of God will handle you, if once within 
its court ; even now you are caught upon more than one of 
its hooks, unless I am greatly mistaken ! 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 243 

• ^Aliat multitudes Avcre thrust into that court on Sabbath 
night ! and the}' Ibund it full of hooks "which seized upon the 
cloak of hypocrisy, or the skirt or sleeve of the "dress-coat" 
of self-righteousness, and ere they escaped it was torn into 
tatters, till, like the seven sons of Sceva the Jew, upon 
whom the evil spiiit " leapt," whom they had attempted 
to exorcise in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preached, — 
leaped upon them and overcame them, so that they fled out 
of that house naked and wounded ! Acts xix. 14, 16. Thus 
tied the h}'pocrites and Pharisees and formalists of all sorts, 
and poor torn sinners who never had either the form or 
power of godliness; some of the latter, like that soldier in a 
certain place who said he was knocked doA\'n like an ox, 
having nothing to plead but, " God be merciful to me a 
sinner;" and mercy he found, through the blood of the 
Laml) ! 

But many, to their sorrow, have found that the juiisdic- 
tion of this court extended beyond the limits of the Centen- 
aiy chapel ; along the streets to their homes ; and on 
Monday morning to their connting-rooms, offices, shops, 
parlors, kitchens, garrets and cellars, and out to tlie fields, 
cver}'whcre, in fact, maintaining its dread jurisdiction ; and 
over all the past besides, and over the present week, and 
over all the future throughont time and eternity ; — wide as 
the world, and extensive and terrible as eternity ! 

Ah ! many present know to tlieir sorrow now, that the 
studied disguise and the flattering peace and virtuous show, 
—the powerless formalism and closed eyes, and seared con- 
science, and hard deceitful heart and fig-leaf garments, the 
Strong man armed withal were })Oor defenses against the 



244 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

tremendous energies of the Law of God, — ^tlie chosen weapon 
of the Eternal Sph'it, and the great instrument in His hands 
of bringing sinners to repentance the world over.* 

VI. To the last objection of A. D. let the audience 
hearken ; but I would only oppose to it the sentiment of one 
long since gathered to his fathers. Hearken to it ! " It 
was only the libertines who said the moral law was designed 
for creatures, not for Christians ; for the unregenerate, not 
for the regenerate. Ergo, Christians have nothing to do 
with it; break it or keep it is all alike ; nay, better break 
it that they may have less temptation to hope for a legal 
justification." Devil's logic that ! I read the other day of 
ignited logic, — logic on fire ; — this is hell-fire logic instead of 
Gospel. The law and the Gospel, like the day and the 
sun, always go together, one and inseparable ; and he who 
attempts to separate them thus, God will most surely sepa- 
rate him and Heaven, wide as the gulf betAveen Dives and 
Abraham. 

The Law is for the government of all, creatures and 
Christians, unregenerate and regenerate, till heaven and earth 
shall pass away. St. Paul said, " I am not ashamed of the 
Gospel of Christ." But I declare to this audience I would 
be heartily ashamed of it, did it dissolve our obligation to 
keep the ten commandments. St. Paul's caveat does not 
make against what I have said : Gal. ii. 19, '■''For I, through 
the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" Here 
death and life are in opposition, they confront each other. 
But you misunderstand the Apostle. He was dead to the 

* See a sf irring descriptic n of this Sermon and its effects in tlie Second Part 
of this Volume, Chapters VI., VH. and Vm. 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 245 

law as a source of lite, of justilication, peace, confidence, 
joy ; but not dead to it as a rule of life, as the rule of liis 
actions, as the standard and guide of his moral conduct. Plis 
source of life was elsewhere, — " Hid icith Christ in God,'' as 
he plainly declares in Gal. iii. 3. 

The Law had stripped him of his self-righteousness till he 
mournfully admitted, — "iVo< having on mine own righteousness 
ii'hich is of the Ixm^'" and then eondenmed him to death in its 
terrible court. Then came the loud, long, and bitter cry : 
''0, icretched man that I am ! icho shall deliver me from the 
body of this death f" — not the shadow of death, but its sub- 
stance, its body, breaking all his bones, — all his hopes of 
heaven through the merit of his own righteousness — pre- 
cluding all hope of justification before its dreadful tribunal ; 
just as many of you felt on Sabbath night. Then iled Ins 
trembling conscience to the Court of the Gospel, where he 
found mercy, being justified, and acquitted through the 
merits of Christ. So the next we hear of him, it is in the 
joyful exclamation of life from the dead : " 1 thank my God., 
through Jesus Clmd our Lord.'' For, " TJiere is, therefore, 
now no condemnation to them ivhich are in Christ Jesus, lo'to 
walk not after the jlesh, hut after t.Jie spirit. For the law of 
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus liath made me free from the law of 
sin and death." Tiien he goes on to give an account of sonic 
great principles involved in tliis his wonderful acquittal. 

Please read over, wlicn at liome, the seventh chapter of 
Romans, and the eiglith. liut, lest you should come to any 
wrong conclu.sion.s regiirding the Apostle's experience, con- 
dudc by reading tlie sixtli clmj)!"'!- of IJouians, wIhto he 
recommends find includes himself in a better exixrieiice than 



246 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

tliat which he describes in the seventh of Romans. Mark 
that liint, for it is of importance. 

But, by all means, weigh well what he says in Rom. viii. 
4. " That the rigliteousness of the laiv might be fulfilled in 
us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Do 
you understand ? — showing, that as the Law had been like a 
schoolmaster to send him to Christ to be justified, and Christ 
Jesus, who was sent to save his people from their sins, true 
to his character, sent him back to the Law to be regulated. 
Do you all understand me ? St. John speaks to the same 
effect in 1 John iii. 4, 5, where he defines sin to be the trans- 
gression of the law, and insists that Christ died to take away 
our sins, that whosoever shall abide in him might have power 
given to them not to sin, that is to keep the moral law, 
through a principle of loving obedience, showing their faith 
by their works. 

n. Let a " distressed and persecuted penitent " give ear ; 
let such an one " Hearken for the time to come." 

1. You tread among snares and death. Satan is laying 
his train to blow up all your good intentions and hopes of 
religion. The world has got you already in its black book. 
It is sad, therefore, not to have your name in " the book of 
life." But it may be so soon, if you make haste to " flee 
from the ^iTath to come," to the Saviour of sinners, who is 
waiting with open arms to receive you. Tlie Law of God 
pursues as a sword, and the tongue of the wicked, which the 
Psalmist calls a sword, follows you also. Jesus is your city 
of refuge from both. You are moving in the right direction, 
but at too slow a pace. " Forced marches," to use a military 
plirase, should be the order of the day : or, to use a nautical 



TLAIX DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 247 

plirase, you must " carry more sail," or you will fall into the 
hands of the old pirate of hell. 

2. Make haste ! make haste ! spread all the sails of your 
alFections ; cry to God for the heavenly breeze, and thus be 
prepared for it Avhen it comes. Satan has opened liis mouth 
against you. ^'And the serpent cast out of his mouth icater as 
a flood after the u-oman, that he might cause her to he carried 
awaij of the floods l\ev. xii. 15. But the earth helped the 
woman, and swallowed up the flood. And poor dust and 
ashes, now addressing you, would open his mouth to your 
relief; — would try to absorb his "flood of despair," by the 
promises of the Gospel. More of this by and by. 

But make haste, O thou distressed penitent. Pie may 
not only send after you a flood but a tempest. He is called 
in Scripture, " The pj-ince of the p)Owcr of the air ;" and, by 
the same Ave learn, he is " The spirit that now worheth in the 
children of disohedicnce /" and vrith. amazing energ}^, as you 
have realized. 

3. The Lord help thee ! This is your time of peril. You 
have left the shores of destruction, and he WDuld hurl 
destruction after you. A rougli voyage you have had so 
far. Many have been discouraged and "put back," when 
trying to pass through the same stormy channel where you 
arc now being tossed. How sad if you perish after all you 
have suftcred ! perhaps at the mouth of the harbor of salva- 
tion ! Alas! sadder still if you perish by the blasts of con- 
tradiction from the mouth of those to whom 3'ou owe your 
existence ! 

4. Boflect well upon the flrst law of the Docnlogue : 
*' Thou shall have no othrr gods before w/?." This excludes all 



248 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

competition with Jehovah. The second law is like unto it, 
which forbids idolatry in the affections, as well as external 
idolatry towards wood or stone images, or the like. 

5. Reflect, also, upon the first lesson of Christian disciple- 
ship taught by our Lord. It was this, that the claims of 
father, mother, wife and children, brethren and sisters, yea, 
even of life itself, shall not be brought into competition with 
His claims. Luke xiv. 26. Besides, to love them more than 
Christ is forbidden under a penalty of a terrible exclusion 
and loss in Matt. x. 37, 39. Observe again : the second 
lesson on Christian discipleship, taught by our Lord, is that 
no man can be his disciple who refuses to bear his cross. 
Luke xiv. 27. 

6. Here, you see, both law and Gospel meet you at the 
very threshold of Christian discipleship. And now, it re- 
mains with you to make your choice between these claimants. 
You are now acquainted tolerably with the threatenings of 
both. Choose then, this day, whom you will serve. What 
you do must be done openly. If you choose Christ for your 
Lord and Master, he decrees that heaven and earth and hell 
shall know it, as assuredly they will, and you shall hear of it, 
especially from unconverted and prejudiced relatives, who 
would seek to be your masters instead of Christ. But two 
masters in this regard you cannot serve, as Jesus Christ has 
elsewhere reminded you ; nor have you forgotten, I trust, the 
observation of one the other evening — that you cannot go 
masked to Heaven ; nor find a tunneled way, nor a night- 
passage to the skies ; if you belong to Christ it must be 
known ; you cannot live among sinful men and keep that fact 
a secret ; you will be forced to do something that vnU. make 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 249 

it knomi you ]uive the Spirit oi' Christ, or else to grieve away 
that Spirit. 

7. Come, then! wluit you do do quickly, for what is done 
heartily, as one observes, is done speedily. But count the 
cost well on both sides that you may not rue hopelessly 
aftervN-ards. Take time for it, but not too long, lest you weaiy 
out the Holy Spirit that is waiting for your decision. Should 
your choice fix on Christ, then consult not with flesh and 
blood. Stand for the right though friends should thunder it 
^^Tong. Do not waver, but go straight forward in the Avay 
of duty. That, and that only is the way of safety. Parley 
not. To do that is to pause, to be weakened, to falter, to 
fall away from Christ. 

8. Dure to do your duty. Leave all consequences to 
God to settle or to overrule. Obey God rather than man. 
AVTiat you dare to resolve dare to execute ; and, as Sydney 
Smith advised, what you do do seriously and grandly. Fear 
not ridicule. Act like one who wears a soul of his own in 
his bosom, and who docs not wait till a soul is breathed into 
him by tlie breath of fashidn ! Kemember the motto of the 
Hampden-, — *• Vestiya nulla relorsum^' — " Not a step back- 
wards ;" — and that, as jNIr. Barnes speaks, not from whim, 
caprice, or custom, but because it is believed to be the will 
of God. Tliis is what he calls tlie religion of principle, 
voluntarily and intelligently adopted, and a stedfast adher- 
ence to it ; adding, that in matters indifferent and not 
enjoined by the high authority of CJod, such a religion is as 
gentle as the breathings of ww infant, and yielding as the 
osier or the aspen-leaf; but in all that is a matter of duty 
that pertain- to the law of ( Jod, it i- like an oak on the hills. 

W 



250 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

There it stands, its root deep fixed in the earth ; and per- 
chance, clasping some vast rock below the surface, its long 
arms stretched out, and its upright trunk defying the blast. 
There it stands the same whether the sun shines calmly on 
it, or whether tiie heavens gather anger, and pour upon it 
the fury of the storm. Such is that fine writer's idea of the 
religion of principle ! O, ye new converts ! bear all this in 
mind, for what I recommend to this distressed and perse- 
cuted penitent you may need not many days hence ! 

9. Hearken, 0, hearken, distressed penitent ! Your con- 
flicts have been severe. But pardon and peace will be all 
the sweeter when they come. That criminal who was par- 
doned the other day and his liberty proclaimed, did you 
notice the effects ? How it melted and overpowered the 
man. He had been tried, condemned — sentenced ; but had 
he been acquitted or pardoned at the beginning the effects 
would have been different. The application to your own 
case is eas}^ Take courage. Go on. The day-dawn is 
near. Already does it begin to tremble along the sky of 
your soul. 

10. Besides, your present sorrow for sin vnll greatly in- 
sure your future faithfulness. You cannot forget the worm- 
wood and the gall. The heinousness and bitterness of sin 
which you have been made to taste may prevent you from 
ever again incurring such a penalty. A burned child dreads 
the fire is an old maxim. A bird that escapes out of the 
talons of the hawk, after having been roughly handled, will 
ever after tremble at beholding that bird of prey anywhere 
near or in the distance. You will ever after this, most 
likely, tremble at the temptation to sin, and flee from it. 



TLAIX DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHAIIACTERS. 251 

The man who barely escaped with his Hfe from a burning 
house, or from the devouring teeth of the lion, or from drown- 
ing by ship^^Teek, would stare at you were you to inquire 
whether he would be ■sN'illing to incur a similar risk again? 
But, it is thus you will feel when pardoned and saved. Can 
you ever forget what you feel now ? that sin has involved 
you in the very crisis of the second death ? that if you are 
saved it will be, as expressed in the book of Job, as by the 
skin of your teeth ? How deeply ever after will you think 
and feel about a crisis so perilous and deprecate its recur- 
rence ! 

11. Keep up good heart then! Beware of discourage- 
ment. Consider the case of the cripple at the pool of Beth- 
esda. There had he lain for thirty and eight years. A long 
time that to expect a cure in vain. But it is only a few 
days since the sword of the law mangled you so ! But he 
hoped on and waited. Hopelessness would have ruined him. 
Hope bound him to the place. Had he despaired the morn- 
ing of the day that Jesus found him he would have removed 
from the place and so missed his cure. But there he was 
when Jesus came. Hope had a large investment in his sal- 
vation. May it be so with you ; for, depend upon it, salva- 
tion Is near. 

Tc wait upon the Lord and to be of good courage is a 
command of God. He has something good for you then ! If 
a boegar is told to wait he is sure of netting something worth 
waiting for ! " Bkused are all they that wait for Him,'' says 
the propliet Isaiah. " They shall not he ashamed that wait for 
me" says God liimself. 

12. And when Jesus becomes vour salvation how 



252 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

precious that moment ! aye, and ever after ! " A friend in 
need is a friend indeed," and never to be forgotten. Jesus 
will be that friend to you. In the time of your greatest need 
he will come, and thus insure your eternal gratitude. Is 
this the time of your greatest need ? Look for him, then, 
every moment by a steady faith in Him, and reliance upon 
the merits of liis death : 

** Redemption through his blood, 
He calls you to receive." 

That is, redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins. Ephes. i. 7. That hlood will be precious unto you 
ever after. Like that Persian convert who had been edu- 
cated in the Mahomedan faith and awakened to his errors 
first, and then to his peril as a sinner, by reading the New 
Testament. There he read of Jesus and believed, and 
received remission of sins through faith in his blood. What 
was the result ? That blood became to him the theme of 
themes ! 

Hear him : " And after some days, in an hour of hours, 
my heart and soul and my whole frame gave me testimony 
that the blood of Christ has become the propitiation for all 
my sins. If thou shouldst at this time die thou hast no cause 
to fear. To the praise of God from that hour to this hour, 
my behef is, that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of 
God, — that His blood was shed for the sake of sinners, — and, 
except the holy books above-mentioned there is no oracle 
from God. My faith increases daily ; and my hope is that 
it will continue to increase." Who will hear this ? " who 
will hearken for the time to come ? " Who will hearken 



PLAIN DEALING WITH CERTAIN CHARACTERS. 253 

with regard to the immediate prayer-meeting. That Persian 
has given you a true dclinition of justifying faith. Carry it 
into the prayer-meeting. Come away now and test it for 
yourselves, all ye who ai-e gToaning under the curse of a 
violated law and an angry conscience. Amen ! 



I 




CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. A SERMON. 

R. C. mentions in one of his addresses the necessity 
of "sharper weapons," — that he used such in his 
"Law Sermon," and that they were "sharp in 
the hearts of the king's enemies " is pretty evident from the 
following discourse. The text was selected or intended it 
would appear as a motto for the preacher, rather than as a 
subject for exposition — he evidently determined to cast aside 
sermonizing trammels and circumlocutions, and make, if 
possible, a straightforward march into the hearts aud con- 
science of his hearers. 

" Who among you will give ear to this ? who will hearken for the 
time to corned' Isaiah xiii. 23. 

I. It is no matter that I have taken this text before. It 
answers my purpose now. It demands your attention, 
and has won it already. "The time to come." That has 
more influence over men, usually, than time that is past. 
The past cannot be recalled. We know what was in it, the 



EARNEST DEALING WITFI ATVAKENED SINNERS. 255 

evil and the good, the evil from ourselves and the devil, the 
good, whether in grace or providence from God. We treat 
the past as many do a friend Avho has it not in his power to 
do them any more good. " Time to come," is the future. 
Hope, with outstretched hand, waits to salute the future. 
Fear, wlicn unsanctilled, shrinks from the future, deprecates 
it, and repels iLe thought of it ; especially when our miscon- 
duct gives reasons to fear it. Infidels and impenitent sinners 
know what I mean. 

II. There is a fear that looks toward the future without 
repelling it ; a godly fear ; the fear of a truly awakened and 
penitent sinner ; one who desires to flee from the wrath to 
come, and knows not which way to fly. Fear is a passion, 
and a pamful one ; because it apprehends impending danger. 
It is a manly emotion when there is a true cause ; such as 
an offended God, and the approaching perils of eternity. 
And it is more manly still when it either prompts a flight 
from the danger, or leads the man to cast about for means of 
defence against it when it comes ! 

III. There is an indirect appeal to this passion of our 
nature; — to tho.-e principles associated with it. ""WHio 
among you will give ear to this ? Who wiU hearken for the 
time to come 1" He who feels this painful emotion will 
surely hearken for the time to come ; especially if its sister 
hope stands by its side. 

'JMiis is all I have to say by way of introduction. Now, 
you who have ears to hear, hearken. 

J. Let " A DKsrAiTiiNf; rKNrrr.NT," hearken. 

1. You say, "Tiiere is no mc-rcy for me." How dc you 
kn<;\v that "? who told you that? The devil, doubtless, who 



256 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

told you just the contrary when in the full career of sin. It 
is the devil's lie. Is it not written he is the father of lies ? — 
" lie is a Har, and the father of it." Why set the liand of 
your soul to his lies. But you ask, "Is it not possible f To 
be sure it is. The spirit may be quenched. The day of 
grace may be sinned away. There is no mercy for the 
finally impenitent. Because such sin both against Law and 
Gospel. " A fearful looking for of judgment and Jiery indig- 
nation which shall devour the adversaries" is all that such are 
to expect in the time to come. But you are not impenitent. 
Sin is hateful to you, and yourself an abhorrence to yourself 
on account of it ; yea, and a terror to yourself. You desire 
forgiveness, though you hardly dare to hope for it. Your 
day of grace sinned away ! No mercy for you ! Nonsense ! 
It is to you and to the like of you that offers of mercy come 
from the throne of God thick as sunbeams from the sun ! 
Away with all such black and dismal thoughts! Cheer 
yourself with the brightening certainty in the coming future, 
and that future may be the next hour, nay the next — this 
moment ! Why not ? Has God not said, " Behold, now is 
the day of salvation T Certainly he lias. And if unbelief 
were to give place to faith " now," it should be unto you. 
Lord Jesus help me properly to address the despairing 
sinner. 

2. Hear what a good man once said to another just hke 
yourself. " No mercy for me," said the despairing one. 
" How know you thatf said the other. " Have you seen 
the book of life? Have you read the records of eternity? 
Are you not unreasonably intruding into the secrets of God, 
which belong not to you ? Besides, if the treaty were at an 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 257 

end, how is it that your heart is now distressed for sin, and 
solicitous for deUverance? 'The sin unto death' is always 
found in an unrepentant heart ; — no contrition, no sorrow in 
the soul for having committed it. To all who rightly under- 
stand the matter, it is a matter of joy, that when God smites 
the senseless heart of the sinner, that a painful sense of sin 
comes with the l)lo^^'. Then, and not till then, may it be 
said, ''This sickness is not unto dcat/i, but for the ylory of God.' 
l>e of good comfort then ! IMay not mercy be coming and 
you not see it ? or, have you been waiting at the WTong 
door ?" Aye ! mark that ! " wailing at the Avrong door !" 
That may be the real fact in your case ! 

3. liut you will inquire, " AVhat did he mean by the 
Avrong door ?"' The Law door, perhaps, which shut against 
your face like a thunder on Sabbath night,* and which con- 
tinues to threaten you with an eternal imprisonment in hell 
if you Continue to stand there much longer ! 

4. Fly from tliat door. If you have mistaken it for tlie 
Gospel door, be apprized of your mistake, and fly from it as 
ihe manslayer of old from tlie a^ enger of blood, speeding his 
way to the open and welcome gate of the city of refuge ! 
Jesus Christ is your city of refuge. Fly, sinner, fly ! 

5. If you are still standing at the door of the Law, what 
are you to expect there? Nothing but stiict justice. Justice ! 
why that woidd ruin you forever. Justice! you should 
deprecate that with the Apostle's " God forbid !" Fly 
from that <loor. It is well it opened not at your knock ; 
you might have Ijccii In pcjrdltion now. V\y from it, 
sinner, f1y ! Tliis is uliat is meant in the Scriptures by 

♦ : ce ac'ouut of thf; Sermon— I'arl II. 



258 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

fleeing from tlie wrath to come ! Flee, then ! for ^^Tath is 
coming. 

6. But do not fly far ! The Gospel door is very near the 
Law door. And if you are disposed to go to that, the Law 
itself will help you ; for, St. Paul say^, the Law is our 
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justi- 
fied by faith. Gal. iii. 25. 

Hearken, then ! The Gospel door is the door of hope, 
and it is conveniently near the Law door ; — as the cities of 
refuge of old were located convenient as possible for those 
who were flying from the sword of justice. 

7. Hearken again ! See to it that you are knocking at 
the right door. If sure of that, there abide,, for it is only at 
that door mercy is dispensed. Abide there. Keep on 
knocking and believing. Knock loudly. The louder and 
more earnestly the better, if you only believe all the while. 
Hear Jesus : " The Kingdom of Pleaven suffereth violence, 
and the violent take it by force." Intense earnestness is the 
meaning; the same as " strive to enter in at the strait gate." 
The word strive there means agonize to enter. " Suflfereth.. 
violence," that is, the laws of the kingdom permit it. Our 
God, the King thereof, invites to his, and crowns this vio- 
lence, this earnest intensity, that says with wrestling Jacob 
of old, " / will not let thee go excc])t thou bless me ;" He 
cro^\^ls the earnest soul with the desired blessing. " The 
Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence," — "is gotten by force," 
as the margin has it. 

8. Have faith, then, in the laws of this kingdom of grace 
into which you would enter ; knock and push and strive and 
agonize till all Heaven is moved in your behalf. 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 259 

9. Begin no'»v : why not ? "Wliy -wait till the prajer- 
mccting begins ? Is not the hour of proclamation the most 
likely lime for salvation ? Begin now. What you Avant is 
the publican's repentance, blind Bartimeus's energy and the 
leper's faith ; the breast-smiting, and the repenting or}'-, 
" God be merciful to mc a sinner /" the casting aside the gar- 
ment of self-righteousness, as Bartimeus did his outer garment, 
leaAing nothing l)nt rags and poverty behind, and the ener- 
getic QTj which Mill not be put down without the boon, 
^^ Jesus, thou Son of David have mercy on me;' with the 
beheving, Christ-honoring confidence of the leper, " Lord, if 
thou icilt thou canst make mc cleans All three found the boon 
they sought. The publican went down to his house justified. 
Bartimeus got his eyesight with those words of Jesus, " Go 
thy way thy faith hath made thee whole,'' and that instant he 
received liis sight and followed Jesus in the way. To the 
leper he said, " / ivill he thou clean," and instantly he was 
healed and cleansed of his lepro«?y. So shall it be with you, 
if you imitate them as you should. 

10. But I repeat, see to it that you are at the right door. 
If r-o, there abide until you are relieved. At no other dcor 
than the merits of Jesus Christ is the mercy you need dis- 
pensed. A beggar goes from door to door wherever he hopes 
\\)T help. But after he has knocked at all the doors but one 
and sent empty away, what then ? To the one imvisited 
door he hastens, where he knows " there is bread enough and 
to spare." There he stands and knocks and will not go away. 
"This i.s my only hope," he says, "if I leave here I perish." 
There he lingers and ninkcs miicli ado. lie ought to have 
gone there at first, and not to lune pushed himself into such 



260 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

an extremity. This is your case precisely. Compare it with 
my simile. Is it not so ? Your duty is plain ; aUde, and 
keep on knocking, and in a few minutes we will help you, till 
our united knockings and cries at mercy's door shall awaken 
the echoes of Heaven ! 

11. It was said of one of old, that " he was clothed in filthy 
garments ;" but an angel of the Lord stood near him. And 
who should stand there, also, at his right hand to resist him, 
but Satan. Zech. iii. 1. Then forth came a voice saying, 
" The Lord rebuke thee, 0, Satan : even the Lord that liath 
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked out 
of the fire f " Next came a voice of salvation saying, " Take 
away the filthy garments from him." It was done, and 
more than that, for a voice of mercy was heard, saying : 
^' Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I 
will clothe thee ivith a change of raiment.''' And so it was; 
and " a fair mitre " was put upon his head, Avith glorious 
promises of usefulness in the cause of God. 

12. Well, there is much of this going on in your case. 
Satan stands at your right hand to resist any efforts to do 
you good. The filthy garments must not be removed, nor 
the iniquity of your life forgiven if he can have his will. 
The brand must not be plucked out of the lire. The law oi 
God flames around it like a furnace. Your soul is the 
brand Avhich Satan would have burn for ever. But unless 
you make his -will your will it need not be. Christ's will is 
otherwise ; but nothing can be done without your free and 
voluntary consent. 

13. Satan has changed his voice concerning you. " There 
is no mercy for you." Thus it was not once : " It is time 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 261 

enough yct.^' I'liat -was his voice when -working upon your 
presumptuous hopes. But now that your eyes arc opened, 
and your soul in distress, lie would work upon your despaik : 
'• Tliere is no mercy for you." It is surely a lie, and he is 
the father of it. 

AMiat more can I say ? Hear what one said to another 
similarly harrassed. " Though your case be bad it is not 
desperate. Tliough the night be dark and troublesome and 
tedious, keep on the way to Christ and light will spring up. 
To mourn for sin is your duty ; to conclude there is no hope 
is your sin. You have wronged God enough already. Do 
not add a farther and greater abuse to all the rest by an 
absolute despair of his mercy. It was your sin formerly to 
presume beyond any promise. It is your sin now to despair 
against many commands." Could any thing be more appli- 
cable to your case ? This is all I have to say to you at 
present. 

II. Let " The wounded- but not healp:d sinner," 
hearken, for I have a message from my Lord to you. 

1. You remind me of a dying ])ackslider, Avho, after 
trj'ing liard to ap[)ly the promises to his sorely irritated con- 
science cried out in despair, " The plaster will not stick." 
No, poor fellow ! for he was pressing the promises against 
the sore "v\'ithout an appropriating faith in the blood of the 
Lamb, witliout wliicli no promise can ever stick. There was 
no application of the l>lood that cleanseth, I John i. 7. 
Therefore no applying hand of the Holy Spirit ; therefore, 
the hand of an angrv conscience soon tore it olf. The 
plaster would not stick, and he died. 

2. Hear ni<- ! It was" only that which appeased a just 



262 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

God can appease an enraged conscience, the blood of Christ 
rightly appreciated. " Jesus Christ hath loved me and gave 
himself for me. His blood was shed for me, for my sins ; I 
trust in that and in nothing else, now and forever ;" — so said 
that weeping sinner the other evening, and he instantly found 
mercy ! 

3. Without such a faith, such a trust, conscience will 
displace the best promise in the Gospel. It will never allow 
it to stick long enough to heal. And why ? Because that 
Law of God which wounded you so deeply on Sabbath night 
remains unsatisfied. It is that which so frets and irritates 
conscience against you. It sides with the law, and will for 
ever and ever. Alas for you ! O, what is to become of 
you ? Must your wounds remain open and bleed for ever ? 

4. Hear me ! " Hearken for the time to come," until 
you cry out with Luther, and suit the action of your soul like 
him to the cry, no promise will ever stick : " O, Law ! I 
plunge my conscience in the wounds, blood, death, resurrec- 
tion and victory of my Saviour Christ. Besides him I will 
see nothing, I will hear nothing," Luther was made to see 
and to feel that he had need of everything Jesus had pur- 
chased for him in the whole work of redemption. So must 
you. But it will do you no good till your faith, like his, is 
applying ; till you resolve, like him, to set nothing before 
your eyes but Jesus Christ dying for your sins, and rising 
again for your justification. Till then, never expect to have 
proper rest from either law or conscience. 

III. Let "A Discouraged Mourner in Zion," hearken. 

1. It is no wonder you mourn. Luther says the desu-e 

of self-justification is the cause (?f all the distresses of the 



EAKNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 263 

heart, but that he M'ho receives Jesus Christ as a Saviour 
enjoys peace, aud not peace only, but puritv of heart ; — that 
such a laith kills the old Adam in us, and by the Holy Ghost 
given unto us, gives us a new heart. Well might Luther 
exclaim at the close of the sentiment, "This is no empty 
speculation, but a practical method, by which we obtain a 
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ ;" — " It is the very honey- 
comb of a New Testament peace," exclaimed another happy 
German preacher. Aye, and imtil you have found yom* 
way to this honeycomb you never can enjoy such a New 
Testament peace ; never, never, never I 

2. Hear me thou mourner discouraged ! You are not so 
much condemned for your past violations of the Law of God 
as you are for your present unbelief. This is your greatest 
sui. Christ atoned for all your sins, but you are unwilling 
to believe it practically ; that is, so as to trust. I was going 
to say venture your all upon it, but I dislike to use the word 
venture when there is neither chance nor risk, but where all 
is safe and sure. l>ut Avhere there is a want of courage, 
perhaps the word venture may be allowed. 15e courageous, 
then, and venture singly \i\Km Christ for pardon and peace. 

3. Hearken ! and let my Avords sink down into your 
lieart : You grieve the Holy Spirit when you look for 
reasons in youi-self why Jesus should not bless you. Look in 
another direction, then to Calvary, to Christ your advocate, 
for reasons why He should bless you. 

AMiat Mr. AVesiey said to one I Avould say to you. 
'' W)\\ look inward too much, and upward too little." Come, 
my dear friend, hjok Christ-ward. St. l*aul advises 
''^ Lookivfj indn Jesus f' (H*, as Dr. Mackiiight translates it, 



264 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

"looking off to Jesus," that is looking away from everything 
else, and looking unto Jesus only. 

But you say, " I cannot avoid looking at myself so long 
as I feel as I do." Well, if it must be so, for one look at 
yourself give a dozen looks unto Jesus. 

4. Perhaps you are not overrating the aggravations of 
your guilt ; but as one observed, " You should beware of 
underrating the mercy of God through the atonement of 
Christ." What he said farther is fairly applicable to you, 
" You feel you are barely out of hell, and your poor con- 
science, unused and strange to its office, labors to discharge 
in a moment the accumulated duty of years ;" aye ! and the 
accumulated guilt of years, without a proper recourse to the 
blood of Christ ! 'Why ! you might as well attempt to 
discharge the national debt of England. 

5. Come to Christ. He has undertaken your whole 
cause. Hearken to St. John. " If any man sin we have an 
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is 
the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, hut also for 
the sins of the whole world." Is not that enough for you? 
Wliat more can you want to induce you to trust your whole 
cause in his hands ?" 

6. Hear Jesus himself, ^' Come unto me all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'' And again : 
^'' And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.'' 
Those sweet words I will in no wise cast out, that is, refuse 
him acceptance and mercy. John Bunyan tells us, in his 
** Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners," that when he 
was an awakened penitent, that promise was given him, but 
that Satan tried every way to wrest it from him ; telling him 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 265 

that lie had fallen lower tlian any other sinner, and had done 
uliat other sinners never had done ; and that he had no 
right io the promise ; but he still held on to the " in no wise 
cast out," — " by no means, for nothing whatever he hafh 
ever done." But hear Bunyan's own words, as near as I can 
remember : "• And yet Satan never once suggested, in thus 
seizing to drag away this promise, 'You do not come aright.' 
No, because he knew full well I iniderstood at what it was 
to come ariglit, namely, as a vile ungodly sinner, and so cast 
myself at the feet of his mercy, condemning myself for sin. 
If ever Satan did strive for any good word of God in all my 
life, lie did for this good word of Christ, ''And him that 
Cometh unto mc I will in no icise cast out ;" he at one end, and 
I at the other. O, what work we made ! How we did 
tug and strive ; he pulled, and I pulled on the promise; but 
God be praised I overcame him ; I got sweetness out from 
it!" 

Come, then, poor " discouraged mourner," come ! lay 
hold on the same promise, and if Satan takes hold upon the 
other end, ])ull as hard ;is yon are able, but do not lot go; 
pull on, and soon as I close, which Avill be in a fcAv minutes, 
we will hasten to your side, and help you to pull. Christ 
will lend a hand: we shall all have a hand at it, and see if 
Satan will hold on and pull against us. Let him; and sure 
as he is devil we shall drag him by it into the presence of 
Christ ; as did his en\y and hatred of Job, into the council- 
chamber of old, wlien the Tx)rd said, "Whence comest thou, 
Satan !" and see hc)W abashed he shall appear in the j)rcsencc 
of your promise-keeping Ixjrd and Saviour Jesus Clirist ! 

]V. Lrf " A T>AW-C<)Ni)KMNKr> SiNNKK," hearken. 
12 



266 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

1. And yet, strange to say, while the Law condemns 
you, you have a fatal disposition to cling to it. It is your 
irreconcilable enemy, and yet you seek, by reformation and 
promises of entire amendment to make it your friend. Could 
you reconcile the civil law thus ? Can a violated law ever 
justify the criminal? Why then cling to what so rends 
your conscience and breaks aU your bones ? " The Law 
worketh wrath," says St. Paul. So says your own experience, 
and yet you hope it wiU work love by and by. Never ! 
The hope is vain ; — ^that is, if you apply to it thus. " Tim 
Law is good if a man use it lawfully" says St. Paul again. 
Good, if he will use it as a schoolmaster to bring him to 
Christ to be justified, and he seeks afterward to be regulated 
and controlled by it ; evil, if he persist in seeking to be justi- 
fied by it, for that is to use it unlawfully. 

2. Ponder Rom. iii. 20 well, for it is home to the point 
in hand. " Therefore, by the deeds of the Law there shall 
no flesh be Justified in his sight : for the law is the knoivl- 
edge of sin." Put this and Rom. v. 1 together, and you 
have the way to the Kingdom straight before you, as the 
railway from Yonk to Newcastle! Hearken! ''Therefore 
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by 
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God!' How can you, with two such 
passages before your eyes, or sounding in your ears, persist 
in hoping for peace from Law*? You might as well expect 
it from heU. 

3. Place Calvary between you and Sinai, or you are an 
eternally undone sinner. You say, " I do believe Christ died 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 267 

for me." Yes, but you are un^^'illing to trust wholly there ; 
this, that, and the otlier must be done and felt first. Your 
trust is divided. You have more Saviours than one. Tliis 
is a fact, if you are seeking peace "with God, partly by works 
and partly by faith. Instead of flying directly from tlie Law 
to Christ, all guilty and pointed, and helpless as you are, you 
tr}' to make friends with the Law, that it may speak a good 
word for you. Alas ! alas ! That would be a new thing 
under the sun. • 

4. There is a fire in your conscience which the Law has 
kindled, and which the blood of Christ alone can extinguish. 
But you linger with the Law, which only adds new fuel to 
the flame. Suppose your house was on fire, would you throw 
oil upon it to put it out ? But what oil is to flames the Law 
is to that fire within yon. The Law of God is a fire of 
itself If your clothes were on fire would you rush into fire 
to extinguish it ? A man got his arm broken by machinery 
the other day : suppose he had thrusted the arm back into 
the destruction in hopes of bettering it, or of making himself 
more worthy of the sympathy of the physician, instead of 
hastening at once to the surgeon. But these cases simply 
illustrate your conduct when you apply to the Law to be 
bettered, instead of coming at once to Christ. 

5. Fly to Christ at once. Tell him your whole case, the 
very worst of it, with a humble, repenting believing heart ; 
and you are the verj' subject Jesus will delight to save. 
Kefuse, a.s you fly to Christ, to be beholden to the Law for a 
pingle particle of comfort. Plead guilty ; plead the merits of 
His death; plead and trust, and he will become thy salvation. 
This is all I have to say to you. ( iivc thy bles.-ing, O (Jhrist ! 



268 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

V. Let " One who oavns a bleeding conscience " 
hearken. 

1. Your wounds ])y the law -can never be else than fresh 
and bleedmg until you come to Christ. " A burden " must 
ever rest upon your wounded conscience until you hearken 
unto Jesus and obey. " Come unto me all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Come unto 
him now, while I address you ! " A death " must ever rest 
upon your spirit until you say with Peter, " Lord, to ivhoiii 
shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life^ With him 
of old you must still say, " We look for a time of healmg, 
and behold trouble," aye ! until you hearken to that voice 
calling unto you from amid the prophets, " Look unto me 
and he ye saved all tlie ends of the ea,rth^for I am God, and 
ther^ Z5 none else'' St. Paul echoes it, " Looking unto 
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith'' Let it be the 
look of your heart. Burmier defined justifying faith to be 
the look of the heart towards Jesus Christ. Luther used to 
say if a man love not Jesus he has never heard with Lis 
heart the great things Jesus has done for him ! Another 
continental writer, I remember, defined justifying faith to be 
nothing else but a serious and intense consideration of Jesus 
Christ. 

2. Is your heart set against sin ? It is, surely. A sick 
man cannot indulge. Bleeding feet cannot run. A bleeding 
conscience is a slow traveler hell-ward, unless desperate. 
But it may crawl to hell the way many do. But it may 
crawl to Jesus also, and be healed. 

3. Jesus Clnist bled to death for you ; therefore you need 
not bleed to death for sin ! It was in your stead He suffered 



EARNEST DEALING WITH AWAKENED SINNERS. 2()9 

ami (lied. Why then should you suilor and die? lie satis- 
Jiod the demands of the law against you when lie received 
its death-wounds in His body on the tree. Eternal Justice 
asks no seecmd vindication. It did wound you sore, but not 
unto death ; lor the design of its blows was to drive you to 
Clirist to be justllied. 

4, It was on Christ your iniquity was laid. "VMiy then 
should you bear it 1 Keason and conscience suggest reasons 
without number why you should ; but the Gospel not one. 
Jesus sulKered tor your sins. He bore them in His own body 
on the tree. God the Father accepted His death for yours. 
Justice was satislied. It is ready to be so noAv; but not 
until you close in with Christ, not till you take Ilira for your 
Saviour. Then, and not till then the law has no furth.er 
demands. 

o. Here you behold the mercy and goodness and severity 
of (Jod. You have no higher proof of these than in the 
death of Chri>t in your stead. Nor have we a weightier 
argument against riii; '-Xo, not," as a French divine re- 
marked, *-in the buming hdce with its smoke; eternity with 
its abysses, devils with their rage ; hell with its horrors ; and 
the souls of the dannied overwhelmed there Avith torment 
and despair! " A sacrifice so tremendous speaks volumes; — 
*' He was flic Son of God.'' This is enough. Sin with i:s 
penalty due never had so awi\\\ a comment ; — so terrible a 
vindicati..n. lb 11 nnd its torments, Avith all due deCerenee 
to the French preacher, certainly came the nearest lo mk h a 
comment, such a vindication. V>\\\ liere, in this woil<!, it is 
the mightiest of all arguments ; the death of t lie Son of (lod 
for the sins of men. It alarm- my soul while I proclaim it. 



270 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

I tremble at the severity of God's justice, while I do rejoice 
as a saved sinner in the arms of his mercy. 

6. Justice and mercy received their vindication at the 
cross. Indignation at sin, and love for the sinner, never had 
such an exemplification, and never can have again. 

In the name of Jesus, O, bleeding sinner, I raise up the 
cross, Jesus dying thereon for thee : — not a material cross 
■with a carved image thereon, the folly of the Komanists, but 
the fact of the cross ; that Jesus Christ did bleed and die on 
the cross on Calvary for the sins of thy soul ; and to tell thee 
that now, even now, God is in Christ, reconciling thee to 
himself. 

O, that the rocky hearts in this congregation might melt 
at the touch of that cross ; as the rock flowed into a fountain 
at the touch of the wondrous rod of Moses. God is present. 
His power is here. Come away, ye awakened ;'- — ^ye tearful 
and tearless but distressed penitent sinners, come ! Jesus is 
coming, and you are coming ; coming by hundreds. They 
come, my Lord, they come ! 

'• By death and hell pursued in vain.'* 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

PARENTAT. AUTHORITY THE RIGHT AND THE 

WRONG. A SERMON. 

" Who among j/oic will give ear to this ? wlio will hearken for the 
time to come f " Isaiali xlii. 23. 

'*^ FKs HAT "Law Sermon," while it has hewn down 
^%^^^ materials for this revival, prostrated and wounded 
^*ir P sinners ; has certainly cut me out abundance of 
work. Some of my hearers propound questions, others are 
offended ; while not a few enquire, " What shall I do to he 
saved ? " It is impossible for me to reply to each by letter. 
Nor will my time or strength admit of private interviews 
■\^^th all. My hope is, that my colloquial or conversational 
style in the pulpit may answer the purpose ; at least this is 
one reason why I adopt such a style so often. I consider it 
usually the most effective and practical style of preaching. 
Some of you may differ with me in this, but I cannot help it, 
such are my views. It is best for me; and I watch the 
effects closely. Tliis I know, the stately-stilted, high-voiced, 
high-flown, to-thc-clouds sort of preaching, often misnamed 



272 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

eloquence, does not answer my purpose ; which is, to speak 
to the heart and to the conscience; and to do the most 
possible good to the souls of my hearers. But if what I 
have named, or anything else which the world calls elo- 
quence, stands in the way of my usefulness, I would sacrifice 
it in myself without a scruple. At any rate you have the 
reasons why there is so much of the colloquial in my general 
discourses. If fastidious hearers chose to understand me 
and appreciate motives, well, if not, then good opinion must 
go on the same altar of sacrifice with eloquence ! 

2. My text asks for what you have power to give, your 
attention: "Who among you will give ear? who will 
hearken for the time to come ?" 

3. Tliere is in my text an implication ; that is, something 
implied, but not expressed ; something tacitly, that is* silently 
insinuated or hinted at. Wliat is that? This : that many 
were indisposed to give ear, or to hear to no profit, " Who 
among you will give ear f There are ears plenty within 
reach ; but who among you will allow your mind and ears to 
go together in the work of liearing ? so as to be governed by 
the things which you are to hear ? One observation more. 

4. The sense of hearing has been given to us all for a 
double purpose ; for the preservation of the body, and for the 
preservation of the soul. By the ear Ave are Avarned of 
approaching danger ; or invited to food for body or mind ; or 
regaled, and refreshed, and invigorated for future service or 
enjoyment. 

Which is of the most use in time of darkness and danger? 
the ear or the eye ? The car, certainly. We cannot see in 
the dark, but we may hear. The ear is our watch ; high in 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 273 

tlic hciiJ a?s a sentinel in liis tower, and more accurate, it is 
thought, in the darkness th;in in the light ; perhaps, because 
there is more silence then. It tells us when we are free from 
danger, and warns us of its approacli. 

To be blind and deaf is a sad calamity. To have the use 
of the eyes, in tottd darkness, without the sense of hearing is 
said to be painful and terrifying. That deaf little girl, of 
which one speaks, is an illustration. She Avas playing with 
children in a strange room, when the light was suddenly 
Asithdrawn, and all was complete darkness. The other 
clnldren were amused and happy, tottering around ; but the 
poor deaf child raised a piercing cry of distress and anguish. 
Its terror was agonizing. Not so with the other children. 
They heard the sound of each other's breath and motion, 
and felt they were not alone. But the deaf little creature 
felt hci'self entirely alone, and slirieked in agony. Alas! for 
the sinner! iiow fearful is his state! morally deaf, to whom 
God has been as silent as if the universe were Avithout a G od. 
r>ut how docs the sinner bear it? Because he Ls blind as 
well as deaf, and ever remains so in this world, at least, till, 
as the Apostle hints, the eyes of his understanding are 
enlightened. 

Another observation. Then I shall speak to those who 
have ears to hear, and are willing to make a right use of 
them. It is this : 

5. Tliat the sense of hearing should be y rate fully exercised. 

First: For tlie excellence of the gift wlilch we have from 

( hmI. For we might have been born deaf; or the Author of 

our mercies might easily have deprived us of our hearing. 

And who of us has not provoked him to it? Let us beware I 

12" 



274 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Second : For the use of our reason with it ; by which we 
are not only able to distinguish sounds, but the sense and 
meaning of them. 

Third: For a moral sense or conscience, by wliich we 
may receive, apply, and feel the moral force of that which is 
addressed to our ears and reason. 

Fourth : Because we are accountable to God for the 
use we make of these excellent capabilities. Thus, when we 
"hearken," it is for "the time to come," as well as for the 
present. 

The ih'st is enjoyed by brutes; the dog especially, in 
whom the organ of hearing seems to defy sleep, which has 
led some to imagine it a separate intelligence in that saga- 
cious animal; as if he is enabled thereby to keep watch 
while his other senses are asleep. And may we not allow 
that animals possess the second, also, though in a limited 
degree ? They have reasons for their actions, as well as 
ourselves. But some call it instinct. Well, that comes so 
near to reason, sometimes, that, as a gentleman observed to 
me in Switzerland, it is a hard matter to define where reason 
ends and where instinct begins. As to the third, a moral 
sense or conscience that belongs to human beings exclusively. 
The brute does not share it with us ; nor the happiness or 
misery of it. Think of that. 

And now, attention, all you who expect repHes to objec- 
tions and inquiries. My heart beats and burns with St. 
Paul's sentiment : " Who is ivcak, and I ain not iveak ? who 
is offended^ and I hum not?" — bum with living zeal to 
strengthen the weak, even to the showing my own weakness, 
and to remove, if possible, every stumbling block out of the 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 275 

way of the siiimbling ; for tliat is the true idea of the word 
'' otleiuled," in that and other passages. Let me have the 
fellowship of your prayers. 

I. Let '* An Indignant Parent," hearken. 

1. Better jou had said grieved than that belligerent word. 
But hear me ! It is only iu the Lord children are to obey 
their parents. Hearken to St. Panl : " Children obey your 
parents in the Lokd : for this is right. Honor thy father and 
mother, w/iich is the Jirst commandment with promise" Ephes. 
vi. 1, 2, — evidently referring to the fifth law of the Deca- 
logue, or ten commandments. 

Understandest thou what thou hearest? You will reply, 
" To be sure I do ; St. Paul says * it is right ' that children 
should obey their parents, instead of strangers or anybody 
else." And I would reply back again, to be sure it is ! So 
there you and I are agreed. And that Fifth Commandment 
of which you heard the other night maintains your right. 
Aye, and by its convicting power went far to bring your 
children uito the state of mind with which you are in conflict, 
^lore upon this, may be, by and by. Ijut their knowledge 
of the violation of that commandment in more instances than 
you can remember, burned into tlieir consciences a conviction 
of sin, which the mercy of God can only remove. Let that 
suffice, just here. 

2. It is right that children should obey their parents ; — - 
ri;.dit in itself, on the principle of natural justice. As one 
justly observed, many years ago, " Obedience is the interest 
a parent receives for the capital expended upon a child." 
And, God forbid, sir, that I should be the means of depriving 
you, or any parent in the city, of your lawfid interest. .Mark 



276 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

that ! lawful interest ; for it may be in tliat as in the present 
law of usury — that if more than lawful interest be demanded 
and taken, the capital or principal is forfeited ; so it is well 
you should understand the law in the case ! 

3. Obedience, therefore, is right. And we see by the 
passage quoted, that while a child pays to his parents this 
just interest upon the capital they have expended upon him, 
he is just advancing his own best interests ; for the Apostle 
adds, " That it may he well with thee, and that thou mayest live 
long on the earth,'' Ephes vi. 3 :- — an evident comment on tlic 
commandment in question : — " Honor thy father and thy 
m.other : that thy days may he long upon the land, which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee." Exod. xx. 12. Hear me, O ye 
children ! See to it that you render this right conscientiously 
to those to whom you owe your existence. 

4. And now, sir, here you and the " stranger " are again 
agreed. Are we not ? The duty of obedience to parents is 
undeniable. No one with the Bible in his hand can doubt 
that ; — to say nothing of justice or natural affection. I teach 
nothing loose upon that subject ; I never did. Without it a 
child's rehgion is a phantom. To disobey a father or a 
mother is to disobey God, for he has enjoined obedience, 
with the promise of a high reward ; aye, and Avith the severest 
penalties implied for disobedience. To refuse is to break Avith 
God, and to incur those penalties. PhUo, the Jew, placed 
the fifth commandment in the first table, because he thouglit 
devotion to God was defective, if honor to parents was defi- 
cient. 

It is natural justice ; when we consider the cares, sacri- 
fices, toils, and expense parents are at in bringing up and 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 277 

educating their eliildren ; they, and they only, know how 
mucli ! Such a capital has been invested in them as they 
never can refund, but the interest may be paid, must be paid. 
Ailection and obedience are tlic interest. To refuse this is 
felony before God. To pay it is simple justice. Let every 
son and daughter present weigh their reasons for obedience, 
and act upon them with a conscience. 

5. liut look up, thou penitent, or believing son or 
daughter! Wliy look do■^^^l ? why weep? Avhy sob ? Am 
I ignorant of your case ! Not so ! Be not discouraged, nor 
utterly dejected. If your parents are bigoted or wicked, or 
unrighteous, prejudiced, overbearing, or unreasonable, and 
would trample upon your conscience, I have something to 
say on your behalf. Your side of the question has not been 
touched, but it shall, I promise you, before I conclude. 

6. AVell, then, '' Children obey your parents," for this is 
right ; so evidently right, that Solon, the Grecian law-giver, 
thought it unnecessary to enact a law concerning it. His 
reason for the omission being asked, he replied, he could not 
believe human nature could be so wicked as to refuse obedi- 
ence to those who brought us into the world. Gratitude, he 
thought, would secure it, if nothing else. And you, readers, 
remember he enacted no law in his code against ingi-atitude. 
When asked his reason for this, he said he left it to the gods to 
punish ingratitude. I-'or the same reason, perhaps, he omitted 
a law to punish disobedience to parents, nor was he astray 
in the sentiment ; for God will surely punish it, in this 
World, oi- ill that which is to come. 

7. Now, for the other side of the question ! Mark tlie 
provi-o, " Children obey your parents i\ Tin: Lord, /or this is 



278 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

right.'" Mark that " in the Lord.'' There is a world-wide 
divinity in that proviso, you may depend upon it ! 

15ut you say : " I demand impHcit obedience of my 
children ;" very well. If your commands are in accordance 
with the revealed will of God, and do not conflict -with your 
cliild's conscience, he is bound to obey you. But, if other- 
wise, he is not. It is only " hi the Lord " that your right is 
recognized ; that is, you are not to command anything contrary 
to the word of God. But do so, and it would be sin to obey 
you ; wrong, instead of right. Do you understand me ? If 
your commands are at variance with God's commands, then 
lie is bound to obey God, rather than you. Can you have 
any rational objection to this ? 

The sinfulness of your commands liberates your child 
from obligation in that respect ; while upon all other points 
not enjoined or forbidden in the word of God, obedience is 
3'^our due. You must bear with this, my dear sir, and not 
be angry, else God may be angry with you, and punish you 
for usurping his rights ! 

8. Hear for the time to come. Let the truth thoroughly 
impress itself upon your mind. Your sinful exactions free 
your child from obligation. Right obedience stands opposed 
to wrong. Command him to do what God has forbidden or 
not to do what God has enjoined, and he is tliat moment 
released from obedience to you, without sin. To obey you 
would bring damnation upon himself and you. It would be 
to make a god of a parent, and aU such gods and their wor- 
shippers shall perish from under these heavens. 

Parents have no right to usurp the place of God. '\Yhen 
tliey do so, the devil is in tliem ; aye ! so sure as he was in 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 279 

the serpent when he talked -vvitli Eve. Excuse me, sir, but 
it is thus he may speak thi'ough a misguided parent to the 
ear of a child ! 

The late Rev. John Smith, of famous memory, who in 
bygone days preached the Gospel in this city, used to say, 
"Every human being holds fellowship with God or the- 
devil ; with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or apostate 
angels, walks on the verge of heaven, or on the verge of hell." 
Never a truer sentiment uttered than that ! 

9. But how is a child to know with whom liis command- 
ing parent is holding fellowshij) ? or upon what verge he is 
walking, whether lieaven or hell? Hom', but by compai-ing 
his hfe and connnands with the Ploly Scriptures ? 

Job's wife, I doubt not, was moved by the devil to say 
what she did to her sorely afllictcd husband : " Dost thou 
still retain thine integrity? curse God and die.'' If ever Satan 
stepped beyond hi> charter he did then. lie had liberty to 
deprive Job of his property, children, health, and, perhaps, 
character too, by slanderous insinuations ; although, to 
touch his life was forbidden, lint when he used his wife's 
tongue to destroy his Suul, he grasped at something over and 
above his original charter and usurped. He desired to 
destroy two souls by one blow ; the soul of Job, and then 
the soul of his Avife. Consider ! As a i)arent you iiave a 
charter from aljove; large enough in pnvilege, in all con- 
science ; but when you act the god towards the conscience 
of your child, disregarding the Will of God in the Holy 
Scriptures, you are certainly devil-like, overstepping your 
charter, and committing a usurpation. Satan is tempting 
vou to it all tlie v^'liilc, thougli vou know it not, but he \>\ 



280 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN- SOUL-SAVING. 

that parent and child may be both damned by one infernal 
stroke. Take notice ! I warn you to beware and refrain. 

10. Think, sir, of Peter, when he undertook to rebuke 
his Lord and Master. Matt. xvi. 22, 23 : " But Peter began 
to rebuke Jam, saying^ he it far from thee Lord : this shall not 

' be unto thee,'' And how it must have astounded those 
standing by, and Peter himself, when Jesus turned and said 
to Peter, " Get thee behind me Satan : for thou savourcst not 
the things that he of God, hut those that be of man;'' to tliink that 
Satan had obtained sucli a mastery over Peter's mind and 
tongue, and }'et Peter not to know it. Beware, sir, lest there 
may be something of this in your case. Think me not to 
harsh, if I have ventured to open your eyes, as my Lord did 
those of tempted and tempting Peter ! 

Think you tkat Peter was not taken by surprise ? He 
thought he was obeying his own sympathies, and speaking 
his own mind Avhen he was speaking the mind of Satan. 
Peter, doubtless, imagined that he was saihng down tlie 
stream of his own free prudential volitions, Avhcn Satan all 
the while had his hand at the helm. Poor Peter! aye ! and 
poor father ! be sure the same hand is not at your lielm, also. 

11. Consider! Do you well to rebuke your child for 
doing well ? Is it not doing well to repent, to l)eHcve, to 
lind pardon through Jesus Christ, to forsake sinful com- 
panions to follow Cljrist, in company with the pure and tlie 
good ? 

Consider ! '■'' Hearken for the time to come I" Is it safe or 
right in you to say, ''''Desist, on pain, of disinheritance f'' Has 
Satan nothing to do with you in this business ? Take care ! 
God may disinherit you ! 



PAREXTAL AUTHORITY. 281 

Hearken ajrain! Think yon that Satan was not in the 
kinstblk ot' Jo.^^us when they sot ont to interrupt him in the 
work to which His heavenly Father called Ilim ? when they 
went out to lay hold on Ilini with this apology, "//f ts beside 
h'mseljV' 3Iark ili. 21. l>eware oi' harboring the same 
thought in your heart regarding your anxiously praying, 
repenting and believing child. 

Hearken again ! Think you Sat:m was not in the 
woulil-be friends of Francis Si)ira, when they advised and 
urged him to recant his Protestant f;uth in favor of Koman- 
i>m, and successt'ully, to his ruin; — till he became like "• a liv- 
ing man in hell ;" so great was his torture from an accusing 
conscience. 

Hearken again ! Think yon that Satan was not in 
Herod when he simght the life o( the infant Christ ? Ah, 
sir ! it will be a sad day to you when yon fnid you have 
been seeking to destroy the image of Christ in your own 
chUd ! 

12. llearkeu to me, all ye unconverted fathers and 
mothers in this assembly. ^' Hearken for the time to come." 
1 st;uid by my comment on the fd'th connnandnient, in my 
L41W Sermon. I stand by your children in obeying God, 
rather than you. Souie of you, no doubt, would have "pro- 
tested' against Jerome had you l)een present when he (k^ 
clared : '* II' my father stood on liis knees before me, and 
my mother hung also ab^ut my nt'ck, and If all my bn^thrcn 
and .'-l-tirs and kinsfolks Avere howling on every ^ide to re-* 
tain me in a sinful lil'e, I would lling my mother to the 
ground, 1 would despise all my kindred, I would run over 
my father and trea«l him under my feet, thereby to run to 



282 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Christ when he calleth me ! " It is seldom one meets with 
a hvelier comment upon that declaration of our Lord : " If 
any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and 
wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own 
life, also, he cannot he my disciple." Luke xiv. 26, 27. To 
hate here means, to love less than Christ ; which we could 
not be said to do if we preferred to please them before Christ. 
Such was religion in the time of Jerome ; and such was re- 
ligion as our Lord left it when he ascended into Pleaven, 
Was it not upon this very principle our Lord said, that he 
was not come to send peace upon the earth, nor into families : 
" For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, 
and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in- 
law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be 
they of his own household." Matthew x. 35, 36. "What 
think ye of this, O, ye unsaved parents ? In the light of 
these texts can you be right in such opposition ? Can your 
children be wrong in what you call their disobedience. 

13. Hearken ! If you are wrong you are tremendously 
wrong and perilously wrong ! Plinder not j^oiir children, I 
beseech you. It will be sad to go into perdition yourselves, 
but sadder still to drag them down there with you. It must 
not be. This would surely double your guilt and punish- 
ment ; a double damnation for a double crime. To tliis you 
may add the torment of their bitter accusations. Better, far 
better have their prayers to torment you here, if it must be 
so, than to have the torment of their curses hereafter. May 
the Holy Spirit apply the steel of these remarks to your 
hearts now. Better in the hopeful now, than in the hopeless 
then. 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 283 

14. Hearken, ye parents ! If sin and unbelief did not 
infatuate you, thanksgiving instead of munnurings would be 
on your lips ; now tliat your children are becoming the 
children of God. Eeturn to your homes when this discourse 
closes and fall upon your knees, O, ye fathers and mothers, 
and together thank God in behalf of your olfspring. Praise 
God, if for nothing else, that if you willfully perish, your 
children are not hkely to bo there to torment you with their 
reproaches ! If you arc' not afraid of hell yourselves, be 
afraid of seeing your clilldren tliere. If the prospect of its 
scorchings does not alarir. you, be alarmed about their re- 
proaches. If the rich man in hell deprecated the coming of 
his " five brethren " into that place of torment, you may well 
dread to encounter your own children there. Much as some 
of you dislike my ministiy, and would wish it hurled back 
again upon American shores, be assured I am doing you a 
good service in return for your scorns, in effectually pre- 
venting such f^imily gatherings in perdition. 

15. Hearken ! Hear the inquiry of my text. " Who 
among yo\L will give ear to this? ivJio loill hearken for the time 
to come?" O, discourage them not! threaten them not; 
retard tliem not ; divert tliem not from their purposes to 
^Y\e. God ; dampen tliem not ! Is there no check upon 
your spirit ? no throb in your conscience ? no uneasiness 
within you? no misgiving that you are at all wrong? no 
^sirc, no conviction that }ou need this very religion your- 
selves ? Or, are you, indeed, judicially blinded ? God 
forbid I Foi-bid it yourselves, by setting your hearts to seek 
the l^)rd. 

IG. l><!ioM tlie encourairemcnt ! If vou are desirin<r to 



284 . GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

travel heavenward, here are your children preparing to 
travel the same road with you heartily. Scores of fathers 
and mothers in this assembly have lately joined their chil- 
dren on the heavenly road ; and scores of fathers and mothers 
have been joined by their children on the same highway to 
Pleaven. 

17. If such be your determination now, stay for the 
prayer-meeting. You have heard God's first law in the 
Decalogue : " Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'" 
Make not yourselves gods to your children. And you have 
heard Christ's lirst lesson to every disciple, that neither 
father nor mother, brother, sister, wife, nor child's claim, 
shall ever be allowed to compete with the claims of Christ. 
This is aU I have to say to parents at present. 

n. Let "A Perplexed and Conscientious Son," and "A 
Sorely Tried Daughter," hearken. 

1. You have heard what has been spoken in the ears of 
fathers and mothers this evening. And now a few words 
in the ears of sons and daughters — ^to these tried ones, 
especially. 

You remember the words of Jesus, ''^Let your light so shine 
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in Heaven." So, you have a Father 
in Heaven ; and you must please Plim, as well as your father 
upon earth. Mark that ! If the claims of your earthly father 
conflict with those of your heavenly Father, Avhj^ then, the 
claims of the former must be sacrificed. 

But let your light shine; let it shine at home. "It is the 
beauty of a star," says an old divine, " to shine in its proper 
orb; and it is the duty of a Christian to shine where God 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 285 

lias placed him. RELVxrvE grace bespangles a Christian." 
Think of that. Kclative, and every day grace, is what you 
want, and what you must exercise, or you may send your 
parents to perdition. You must have grace from above, to 
carr}' yourselves gracefully towards your relatives ; especially 
towards your father and mother. 

It may be hard to do so, I admit, when they act so 
ungracefully towards you ; but grace ■v\qll make that easy 
which would be otherwise difficnlt. But you must not return 
e\-il for eWl. Obey them freely in everytliing, where con- 
science does not forbid. In matters indifferent, and not 
forbidden by the word of God, be yielding as the osier by 
the stream ; but m matters forbidden there, the oak on the 
heights should not be firmer. 

Do not obey morosely, but amiably, cheerfully, and with 
alacrity. Show them that you delight to obey them, when 
you can cnrry a good conscience with you. 

Leave no duty undone. Know your duty, and do it. Give 
no cause of complaint on that score, or you will ruin your 
influence at home. A good example at home ; see to that. 

2. In the meantime, prove to them, liow deep your concern 
for their eternal interests. Pray for them. Weep over them. 
Plead for them, and if they 'will bear it, plead with them to 
bo reconciled to GckI. It will disgust them to see you more 
zealous to save others from hell, than to save those who have 
higher claims upon your affections. Learn to show piety at 
home. Ahis! to help to save the parents of others from hell, 
and neglect your own, would be questionable piety. " AVorse 
and worse 1 " exclaims the uneasy father, " now I shall be 
tormented more than ever." Never mind such exclamations, 



286 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

ye troubled ones ! You have been standing too long upon 
the mere defensive, and Satan has usurped upon you. Begin 
the offensive policy, that is the aggressive — aggression for 
God and the salvation of those who are near and dear to 
you. Aggression ! that is the word ! " Others save with 
fear, pulling them out of the fire^^ says Jude. Save, O save, 
with fihal fear and holy zeal those to whom you owe your 
existence. 

Aristotle mentions an eruption of Mount Etna, during 
which pious children were seen escaping from the flaming 
lava, carrying their aged parents upon their backs. He 
assures the reader, as a positive fact, that there ran down 
from Etna a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses 
thereabouts ; but that in the midst of these fearful flames 
God's special care of the godly shined most brightly : for the 
river of fire parted itself on this side and that, and made a 
kind of lane for those who ventured to save their aged 
parents, and pluck them from the jaws of death ! 

Now hearken ! Your parents are exposed to a more 
dreadful fire than ever Etna belched forth on terrified Sicily ; 
they are in danger of " the lake of fire hurning with brim- 
stone.'" Rev. xix. 20 ; in danger of being '^cast into the lake 
of fire,'' Rev. xx. 15. You beHeve — ^you see their danger. 
And, if pagan children ran such risks to save their aged 
parents from temporal flames, how much more should 
Christian children struggle to save their parents from flames 
that are eternal ! And, if it was so that Providence favored 
them, how much more may we expect an interposing Pro- 
vidence in your behalf! Furious Etna! ton'ents of con- 
suming lava stood ruled; and a pagan philosopher was 



PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 287 

compelled to ackno-svledge a Providence rcAvardlng filial 
piety. O, but if you are foithfiil, the same Providence shall 
work for you. Lookers-on shall be forced to acknowledge, 
" Verily there is a reward for the righteoiLs : veribj there is a 
God that judgeth in the earth/' Vs. Iviii. 11. Amcul 




CHAPTER XXXV. 

A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT, A SERMON. 

" Who among you will gine ear to this f who will hearken for the 
time to come ?" Isaiah xiii. 23. 

HAT Law Sermon ! what shall I say ? There is 
trouble in the camp of Israel. Moses stood and 
cried, " Who is on the Lord's side? let him, come 
unto me" With the deepest humility I utter the same cry ; 
but followed by another, who is on the Law's side, and on 
the side of the Gospel, also? let him come unto me. Law and 
Gospel ! They must both go together in faithful preaching. 

Here I stand. God help me. I am not alone. Many 
stand with me on the same principle. 

n. The Lord's side is upon the Law and Gospel side, 
and you all know it. The Decalogue, or the Ten Command- 
ments, is the great and ordinary instrument of the Holy 
Ghost in the awakenmg of sinners, sinners of all classes and 
degrees. But it is the Gospel that converts them. " For 
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, 
Eom. i. 17. The Law plants repentance in the heart, and 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 289 

the Gospel plants faith, and faith brings peace, peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The seventh of Romans, 
and Rom. v. 1, 2, as well as the eighth of Romans should be 
studied well. 

The foundations of human wickedness can never be 
shaken but by the great battering ram of the Decalogue 
well set on. The foundations of the great deep of human 
depra^-ity can never be broken up but by such an earth- 
quake as the Law of God only can create. But care should 
be taken, I admit, to relay righteous foundations speedily 
as possible with Gospel materials ; else the ruin and desola- 
tion are complete. 

III. Perhaps that was the defect on the night in ques- 
tion ; but, I hope it has been well atoned for since ; I mean 
ample amends have been made by a hearty preaching of the 
Gospel. Behold the effects upon the happy multitudes 
around us, who, a short time since had almost given them- 
selves up as lost, resigning themselves to the wailings of 
dc.-jxiir ; but now behold them, so much at a loss to express 
the love and adoration which prevail within. Herbert, the 
famous old poet says, that philosophers have measured 
mountains, fathomed the depth of seas, traced fountains, and 
measured the stary expanse ; l)ut they have never been able 
to measure sin and love ! No, indeed ! And all the happy 
faces looking towards this pulpit to-night are ready to say 
the same with a voice of tliunder. 

I^'. liut tlicrc are many sad and disconsolate hearts 

here yet. But we have hope for them as they sliall hear 

ver}' s<x»n. O, may that God who by his own finger wrote 

the law origiiially upon tables of stone condescend to re- 

13 



290 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

write them to-night upon the fleshy tables of your newly- 
converted hearts ; hearts once hard as stone, but now aU 
broken. O, look up, ye prisoners of hope look up ; for your 
redemption draweth nigh. 

V. I know not that I have any apology for taking this 
commanding and awakening text again, other than what I 
am going to say is of great importance and greatly needed 
at the present crisis. My text is like a John the Baptist, 
going before and preparing the way of the Lord ! it is a 
voice crying in the howling wilderness of doubts and fears ; 
in a land of drought and pits and terror, and the shadow of 
death. The text, John-the-Baptist-like, awakens attention, 
wins the ear ; and it is my duty, Jesus-like, to keep that 
attention unto the end. 

VI. I propose to address three persons present ; but let 
the congregation bear in mind that there are scores of con- 
sciences present in need of like instruction. Therefore, let 
all such hearken whUe I address the persons aforesaid. 

I. Let " An Earnest Penitent and Mourner in Zion" 
hearken, and hear for the time to come, 

1. You speak of "tears." And how many tears think 
you have been shed in our world since Adam's repenting 
cheeks were wet with them ? Yet, O, thou earnest penitent 
and mourner, there is just as much merit in that one tear- 
drop in your eye, as in all the human tears which have 
flowed for sin since Adam wept ; that is no merit at all \ no, 
not- for the pardon of a single sin I As well try to pay debts 
with your tears ; or Aveep your departed mother out of her 
grave, or your buried wife, as by weeping cancel your debt 
of sin, or weep your soul out of " the horrible pit and miry 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 201 

c/(/y," into which the violated law of God has hurled you. 
.The law Avhieh ha^i condemned, torn and imprisoned jour 
s'pirit, knoAvs nor admits no tears but the tears of Him who 
was without sin, but whose tears were blood ; who wept 
blood at every pore of his precious and innocent body in the 
garden of Gethsemane for you. There, and at Pilate's bar 
under the scourges, and upon Calvary, hanging on the nails, 
and his heart replying to the soldier's spear, he did all the 
weeping. Human tears, seas of them, can add nothing to 
the merit of such tears of blood and water wept by the Lord 
and Saviour. 

2. But hearken, tears may do you injury. They may 
draw your attention from that which is meritorious to that 
which is worthless. Plear what one said to a weeper like 
yourself: " You may break your heart for sin ; mourn like 
a dove, shed as many tears, were it possible, as ever there 
fell rain-drops to the ground : yet, if you come not to Christ 
by faitli this repentance will not save you, nor all your sor- 
row biing you rest." And equally good was the following 
to the same ; tliat it is good to weep and pray ; but it is a 
snare of the devil if you rest in their supposed efficacy with- 
out coming to Christ. Without Christ these are physicians 
of no value. One hour Avith Christ in secret will do more 
tlian all the counsellors and comforters in the world ! Ponder 
well such sentiments. They are truthful and truly evan- 
gelical. 

3. Muik well what I am going to say. It is that which 
satisfied divine justice, and that only, which can ever satisfy 
and pacify conscience ; the infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ ; 
infinite in mr-rit and efficacy; without a hearty and single 



292 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

reliance upon which, all your weeping and praying will be 
of no use in appeasing an irritated conscience. • 

Weep as much as you will. I would not shut up those 
fountains of feeling which the hand of the Spirit, certainly 
the hand of sorrow, has opened. Let them flow on till the 
hand of mercy wipes them all away ; or until they are 

" The tears that tell your sius forgiven." 

If they serve to float your soul to Clirist, very well ; but 
do not substitute them for Christ ; nor consider them as a 
pleii why God should bless you. Pray all you can ; and 
praise God, if you please, for the grace of prayer. But do 
not suffer yourself to be deluded by any of these ; to suppose 
that the insulted majesty of the Law will smile upon them ; 
or that eternal justice 'will remit any of the penalty due on 
their account. As well might a criminal expect by his tears 
and outcries to appease the civil law, or turn aside the 
course of justice. 

Hearken ! Had salvation been possible by such means, 
Jesus Christ had never died. St. Paul treats that point with 
great energy in his Epistle to the Galatians. And in Col. i. 
19, he tells us, that '^ It pleased the Father that in him should 
all fullness dwell f — all fullness of merit as well as mercy. 
O, then, seek not, expect not to find these anywhere else ! 

4. Wliere is your dependence? What mean those 
words, " tears, and prayers, and Christ." Wliy is Christ 
last? Then you say, "My hope is thereabouts, and yet I 
have no peace." 

How can you, if you are uniting other saviours with 
Clirist, and dividing your hope among them, and Christ last ? 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 293 

Peace ! I will say to you, as Jehu did to the messenger : 
*' W/iat hast thou to do with peace ?" Nothing whatever, so 
long as you are trying to patch up a peace with God and 
conscience thus ; with what you are doing, and what Christ 
has done. Beware of Avhat you are about ! Christ will be 
either all or nothing. lie vnW. admit of no such partners in 
the affairs of your salvation. He suffered too much on your 
account for that ; to say nothing of the infinite dignity of his 
person, and infinite merit of his sufferings. Do you under- 
stand, — do you feel what I say? 

5. Have you never read the reply of the Eoman Senate 
to Julius Cassar, when he desired that body to appoint a 
colleague \vith him in the consulship, to share his labors and 
responsibilities. The Senate refused, with this ingenuous 
reply, that it would be a gi'cat disparagement to Julias Ciesar 
to join another with him in the consulship. But it is thus you 
disparage Jesus Christ when you place your hopes of salvation 
upon " tears and prayers, and Christ ;" presenting altogether 
as a reason why God should have mercy. O beware of this 
insidious, — tliis treacherous principle of self-righteousness, 
whicli is still lurking within you ; this legal bias which 
Avarps all your repentance and doings. 

Tliink ! Reflect ! l>e as ingenuous as the Roman Senate ! 
Away Avitli all but Chiist. Depend wholly upon him. 
Divide your trust tlius, and between them you will fall into 
hell. As a good man remarked, that to trust in Christ, and 
also in our own self-righteousness, is like setting one foot 
upon a rock, and the other in a quicksand ! and added, 
Cliri-t will bo oithtT all and all to us, or nothing; in points 
of righteousness and salvation He will have no social honor; 



294 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

as He did the whole work He will have the whole praise. 
If He be ijot able to save to the uttermost, why depend 
upon Him at all ? and if He be, it is folly to lean upon any 
beside Him. 

This is all I have to say to you at present. Neverthe- 
less, what 1 am going to say to others may be useful to you ; 
tlierefore listen. 

H. Let " A Finally Impenitent " hearken and hear for 
the time to come. 

1. But are you sure that is your state? or is it a mere 
paroxysm of a troubled conscience wliich makes you say it "? 
or an impulse of thoughtlessness ? or is it a coruscation of 
daring impenitence ? Do you know the import of the term ? 
Have you weighed the consequences ? Have you courage 
to look them in the face ? Is it not to remain unpardoned 
for ever ? and to be punished Tvith everlasting banishment 
from God ? Perhaps you tliink this no hard matter to bear, 
seeing that in this life you are most in your element when 
you feel yourself at the greatest distance from Grod. 

2. But is the consequent punishment of hell easy? "If 
it were for a thousand years," said one, "I could bear it; 
but seeing it is for eternity, that amazes and affrights me." 
Another exclaimed, " I am afraid of hell, because there the 
worm never dies, and there the fire never goes out." 
Hearken to vvdiat another said before he bade adieu to time, 
"Tl:e eternity of extremity is the hell of hell. To lie in 
everlasting torments goes beyond all bounds of desperation. 
I'o roar forever through disquietness of heart ; to weep and 
grieve, and gnasli the teeth forever through vexation of 
spirit." Ah! thou "finally impenitent!" if you think all 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 295 

this easy, you have as much lost your wits as your faith. 
To play the hero, and choose the unsafe side proves that 
you have as much lost your senses as your pretences to pru- 
dence ! 

3. Think, man ! " Finally impenitent " is to maintain 
eternal opposition to God, and to have the government of 
God arrayed in eternal opposition to you ! That man, now 
in eternit}', who died some distance from tliis city, clearly 
understood this Avhen he uttered the following- sentiment: 
" Wronged justice can never be satisfied in perdition. Tlie 
sinner in hell will be always sinning ; and therefore he must 
be always and forever punished ;' thus, the 'm'crlasting pun- 
ishment ' announced by Jesus Christ in the twenty-fifth of 
Matthew, becomes an eternal necessity." ^Yhat think you 
of that ? " Stay, friend," said Tiberius Cassar, to a criminal 
under punishment, who begged that monarch to hasten his 
punl>liment, and gi-ant him a speedy dispatch, " Stay, 
friend! you and T are not friends yet." God and the sinner 
damned can never be friends, no more than God and the 
de\ il. VHiy ? IJecause such a sinner and the devil are 
final impenitents. 

4. To deny tliat final impenitence takes place in this life 
would be to side with the Ixoman Catholic notion of Purga- 
tory: for that holds out the hope of repentance and salva- 
tion to the damned. This l*rotestantism discards, because 
it has no foundation whatever in tlie word of God. Tliere- 
fore it necessarily holds to the very opposite ; therefore final 
impf-nitence takes place in this life, and, consequently, is 
perpriu.itcd in tlie life to come. It is a terril)lc thought, 



296 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

therefore treat it not lightly. '^Hearken and hear for the 
time to come ;" aye ! for that may be terrible when it does 
come. 

5. There is a terrible crisis before you. Common sin 
has been leading you to it. " To what ? " To the positive 
rebellion of your soul against the Holy Ghost ; to the point 
in the mental history when that mental rebellion shall 
become malignant as the devil and your depravity can make 
it ; when the Holy Spmt shall be repulsed for the last time, 
and take his everlasting flight ; — this is the " sin unto death" 
of which St. John speaks, and for the pardon of which it is 
no use to pray. 1 John v. 16, 17. Hearken! "//" any 
man see his hrotlier sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall 
ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. 
There is a sin .unto death : / do not say that he shall pray 
for it. All unrighteousness is sin : and there is a sin unto 
death." You will do well to ponder well such an awful 
declaration as this. It is to this point in your mental history 
you have already come. Wliether you have passed it to 
the ground that is unpardonable because of final impenitence, 
it is not for me to decide. 

6. Alas ! You have been wearing down your own con- 
science by repeated acts of wilful sin ; and you have been 
wearing out and wearying the Holy Ghost by a wilful 
extinguishment of superior illumination ; and from your own 
confession one would suppose you had succeeded, but for 
some expressions about that lady of your acquaintance that 
lias been thrown into such anguish or alarm, regarding the 
sin unto death. 

7. Take care, my dear sir ! Beware what you are 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 297 

about ! ITcco'lru, and hear for the time to come! In every- 
tliinp; cls^c play the hero much as you liko. But in this, 
pray make a liah, take a pause, take breath, think ! The 
ribk is too tremendous. It is Hke that individual in a small 
boat above Niagara Falls. Presumptuous confidence was 
his ruin. He approached too near ; — nearer than any other 
dared ; too far ; the current caught him ; the rapids mastered 
liim ; recoveiy ^yas impossible, and lie went over the Falls ! 

8. To sin against the direct influence of iho. Spirit of God 
is the sin of sins. It is the capital oiFence under the Gospel. 
Jt is the wilful sin mentioned by St. Paul in the tenth of 
1 Icbrews ; which leaves behind no hopes of mercy but a 
certain fearful-looking for of judgment and fiery indignation 
to devour the soul, now a finally impenitent and an un- 
changeable adversar}^ of God Almighty. It lands the sinner 
in tlie very vestibule of hell. His passage into its miserable 
prisons is likely to be very short and shortly. The ancients, 
you may remember, named a certain place upon the earth, 
as affording the soul the shortest passage into hell. Thus, 
wlien-a pesson died thereabouts, tliey buried him without 
putting a piece of money in his mouth to pay his passage ; it 
was so short, he needed none ! But such is this sin unto 
death. "What was a fiction in heathen mythology only 
ilhistrates a tremendous fact in Christian theology. Beware, 
sinner ! liewarc, all of you, that you furnish not, in your 
dying hours a tc rn])le ilhistralion. That is all I have to say 
to yon. 

III. \a'\ " A Despairing and Ti::MiTr.i) Sinnku " 
hiarken. 

1. Ave! ri Ldi t ])' liave you spohcn, " a /r//;;>/e</ sinner;" 



298 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

for tempted of the devil you surely are, or yoii would not 
despair. Satan lias changed his voice concerning you. 
Formerly he worked upon your hopes, and stretched the 
mercy of God to the very gates of death. Now he works 
upon your fears and tells you, " The Lord hath cast off 
for ever. He will he favorable no more. His mercy is clean 
gone for ever. God hath forgotten to he gracious" Ps. Ixxvii. 
7, 8, 9. So you see Satan can quote Scripture now, as he 
did to Christ in tiie great temptation, eighteen hundred 
years ago. Mark iv. 6. Then he perverted Scripture, and 
tempted to presumption. Now, in your case, he perverts 
the punctuation of Scripture by changing the simple notes of 
interrogation into the positive period, or end of all dispensa- 
tions of mercy, to drive you to desperation. Look into the 
seventy-seventh Psalm, 7, 8, 9, and you will find a note of 
inquiry at the end of each sentence which Satan has quoted. 
What is rerdered only problematical [to suppose the worst,] 
he has rendered certain. But tliat is just like Satan ! It is 
all one to him whether lie destroys by desperation or by pre- 
sumption. It is thus, by working on tlie positive, he "would 
transfer your repentance into hopeless despair. It is no more 
true repentance then; for, as one said the other night, all 
evangelical repentance is founded upon hopes of mercy. 

2. One thing is plain to me. Satan has not been able to 
prevent you from wading, so to speak, into the hitter waters 
of repentance. Thank God for that ;— a power not satanic 
has accomplished that. Hell is tlie devil's school for repent- 
ance. You have been driven into repentance sooner than he 
hoped. But he is ready for every advantage, and won id 
drown you now that you are in the bitter waters. That 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND BirENITENT. 299 

is, lie would force j'ou to Avade in too far and too deep, 
knoM'ing that your guilt is too heavy upon you to swim, and 
then he would cover you Avith the billows of despair ! 

Hearken unlo me. You have waded deep enough if, 
nke Peter among the waveSj you despair of all salvation but 
that which comes from Jesus,— -crying with Peter, " Lord^ 
save me ! " Keep your eye on Him as Peter did, though 
sinking, and lie will soon be with you, stretching forth His 
gi-acious hand and saying : " O, thou of little faith, ivhere- 
fore dicUt thou doubt ? " Then shall you v/alk witli your 
I.ord triumphantly into the Ife-boat, Salvation! 

3. Tca7's of repentance are good ; but the devil would 
have you weep yourself blind^ so tliiit you may never be able 
to see Jesus. He would have you weep your Hie and hope 
away, and then taunt you with the question. " Is a drop of 
sorrow enough for an ocean of sin?" The poor conscience 
says " Xo" and " iVb," re-echoes Satan, sounding like 
thunder in the soul. 

4. Hearken again ! This is one of Satan's Ihllacies — an 
infernal sopliism, a deceitful argument, Satan's logic, a show 
of reason with mahce and fraud in the deduction. Hundreds 
of ypars ago one met a similar fallacy, and blew it into frag- 
ments, thus, " Sorrow proportionable to sin is not attainable 
in this life. If you have Gospel sorrow that is sufficient. If 
you grieve so as to make sin hateful, and yourself abhorred" 
by yourr^elf, and Christ precious ; if your remorse end in a 
divorce from sin, with a single penitential trusting faith in 
His death lor your sins, it is enough ! Gold is long enough 
in the fire wlion the dross is j>urged away fiom it." "What 
do you think <;lthat ? That is the Gospel in very truth I 



300 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

5. Hearken again! If you listen to SatarAs voice mine 
will do ycu no good. And what is worse.^ if you set your 
hand to Satan's lies, you render the promise of God null and 
void, so ftir as you are concerned. S/dtan tells you that your 
case is desperate ; I say it is bad, but not desperate ; there 
is hope in your case. " No 'mercy ! " It is Satan tells you 
so ; but lie is as ignorant of the l^ook of Life and Death as 
you are. May not mercy be coming, as day, and you not see 
it ? Perhaps you have been waiting, like the beggar men- 
tioned the other evening, at the wrong door ; at the door of 
tlie Decalogue. No wonder then you despair. Neither 
repentance nor tears avail at that door. There is " no mercy' 
there. " Obey and live; sin and die; but thou hast disobeyed 
and sinned, therefore thou shalt die" is its dreadful sentence. 
Who would linger at such a door, if he could make an 
escape ? 

6. Alas ! like him of old in the seventh of Komans, you 
can only say to that Law, " / find then a law, that when I 
would do good, evil is present with me ; — 1 see another law in 
my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing 
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O, 
wretched man that I am / who shall deliver me from the pody 
of this death .?" Is not this just what j'-ou feel ? And you 
are often forced to say with the same troubled one : " F'or 
the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I ivould not, 
that I do." Tlien it is, poor soul ! that the Law thunders 
you away from its door, without offering you a single crumb 
of mercy ! " Do and live, sin and die," is its terrible thunder. 
To whom should you go to now t whither sliould you fly ? 
Wliither but to the Gospel door, Mercy's door, crj^ing out 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMrENlTENT. 301 

again vitli liim in the pcvcntb of Romans, in the blackest 
* n'ght of liis despair, '•'■ I thank God, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord.'' There is yonr only Iioj^e. Go there, and there abide, 
trusting in Ilini Avho died for you, and plcadwg Ilis merits, 
until yon are relieved. 

7. A minister of the Lord Jesus lay dying in Scotland, 
some time since. A brother minister called to sec him, and 
inquired, "Well, my brother, what arc you doing?" 
"Doing?" answered the dying servant of God, "Doing? I 
Mill tell you : I am gathering together all my prayers and 
sermons, all my good deeds and bad deeds, and am going to 
throw them all overboard together, and swim to glory on the 
plank of free grace." Happy man! had he been at the 
mercy of tlie Law he would have penshed, for it never 
throws out a plank of grace to tlie penshing sinn.er! that 
plank comes from the Gospel. You have found it thus in 
clinging to the Law ; that it rather puts a weight of lead to 
your foet to send you to the bottom, and as you sink hurls 
after you the thunderbolt of which St. Paul speaks, " The 
Late u'orhth wrath.'' It is the Gospel that throws out tlie 
plank of free grace ; such an one as came witliin reach of 
the desperate, tliat is despairing; jailor of Philippi, " Believe 
ill the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," Is not this 
plank sulficient to sustain you ? 

8. When I was in the city of Limerick, south of Ireland, 
two or three years ago, one related to me his conversion 
thus : Conviction for sin had seized upon his soul. He was 
unhappy, and lie knew why. Christians had given him 
advice, but it did liiiii no good. One night, when reading 
a sennon at home on the conversion of the Philippian jailor,- 



302 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

he found peace and joy in believing. It came about thus : 
He read the jailor's anxious question, " Sirs, what must I do 
to be saved;" and the reply of l*aul and Silas, ^^ Believe in the 
Lord Jesus. Christ, and thou shalt he saved" and felt pleased 
Avith the instant effects upon the trembling- and despairing 
jailor. Then the thought occurred, " If believing in our 
Lord Jesus Christ saved that sinful jailor, why may it not 
save me also ? What was sufficient in his case should be in 
mine ; I will, I do believe in the same Lord Jesus Christ ;" 
and believe he did, and found instant salvation through faith 
in tliat wonderous name ! The next day he met one of the 
leaders, and with a face beaming witli joy, inquired, "W])y 
did you keep me so long in the dark?" " AVhat do you 
mean ?" " Why did you not tell me that the same faith 
that saved the Philippian jailor would save me also? for it 
has saved me, and my soul is very happy !" Come, then, 
poor troubled despairing soul ! bear me witness that I am 
not keeping you in the dark I No ! but I assure you that 
the same faith tliat saved that desperate man at Philippi, 
who was on the point of self-murder, and that poor Irish 
sinner, is sufficient to save you also. 

9. Come away then to Mercy's door, where you ha\'e 
not been yet, I fear ; or, if you have, you have knocked too 
softly or unbelievingly, or but once or twice, perhaps, and 
thon gave over ; retracing your steps to the Law door, per- 
haps saying, " I am a much better man now than I was 
when liere last, be at peace with me. I have abandoned all 
my sins, and I am endeavoring to keep all, every one of the 
comniandmcnts ; but I am in a sick and starving condition, 
*and dying ; show ])ity, I pray, and bid a returning rebel live." 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 303 

Is that where jou are? Alas! alas man! what arc you 
receiving there ? Nothing but curses ; the last one of which 
pealed thus upon your amazed ear, " Cursed is every one thai 
continucth not in all tJii)igs wJiich are written in the hook of tJie 
law to do tJiemy Gal. iii. 10. And the second peal in the 
ear of your conscience had an implied curse, more raking 
and decisive, if possible, than the first, '•^ For tchosoever shall 
keep the whole law, and yet offend in one j'Oiiit, he is guilty of 
all.^' James ii. 10. And that " one point," which would 
Luiu you forever, is tliat you do not, you cannot love God, 

10. "WeU, then, hearken unto me, and your soul shall 
live. r>y this time, T think, you must be satisfied there is 
DC thing but perdition for you in that quarter. Come, poor 
sinner ! come aAvay with me to Jesus ! * There are no curses 
awaiting at his door ; no want your spirit feels to be left 
unsupplied there ; no tear left undried there, unless it be, 

"The tears that tell your sius forgiven." 

No wound left unhealed at that door ; no heart sent sorrow- 
ful aAvay from His door. Come, away, then ! 

11. I'ut mark! If you will secure his aid, you must 
abandon all other aids. All other doors must be forsaken ; 
otho^ physician tl^.an Jesus you must never think of nor 
employ. As one said, who once went down in similar 
deep waters •with yourself, but rose again to seize the plank 
of free grace, " You must not only forsake your sinful self, 
but your self-righteous self; not only your worst sins, but 
your best ])crf(jrmances." Never better advice so far as it 
goes. It is by grasping and JioMlng on to th(;se things lie 



304 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

would ha^e you abandon that sinks and drowns many a 
poor penitent in tlie deep waters of despair. 

12. It is said wlien a person sinks in deep water, the 
peril is that he find anything at the bottom to lay hold on. 
If he grasp a stone, or a snag, or weeds, or other trash 
there, there is a singular fatality about him that he will hold 
on and drown. Whereas, if he grasp nothing at bottom, he 
is about sure to come to the surface again ! Is there not 
something of this in your case ? Have you not laid hold 
upon sinful self, or upon self-righteous self, or upon your 
worst sins, or upon your best performances, instead of laying 
hold upon the alone merits of Christ, and so you are like to 
perish in the depths of penitential sorrow. Let go of all, 
and lay hold upon tlmt. Hearken to the voice of your God 
by the prophet Isaiah, ^' Or let Mm take hold of my strength, 
that he may make peace ivith me • and he shall make peace with 
mey Isaiah xxvii. 5. Who is the strength of God but 
Christ % " Christ the poicer of God," says St. Paul ; " The 
power of his Christ," say a multitude of saints and augels in 
glory. Rev. xii. 10. Take hold of Christ, and you shall 
make peace with God. But hundreds of years ago one 
asked a divine, " How can I have an arm long enough to 
reach unto Christ in Heaven ?" He replied, " Believe, and 
thou dost take hold of liim." Aye, believe that he has loved 
thee, and gave himself for thee, and trust wholly in that, 
and thou shalt be immediately saved ; this is the only way 
to become or remain a child of God. 

13. O how soon would you rise to tlie surface of hope 
on hearing these words, were you not still holding on to 
something ; I will not say some sinful indulgence ; for, alas ! 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 305 

that would be to resemble that miserable man who cut his 
throat the other day, many miles from here ; (but who never 
was here, mark that, at least not during these meetings), a 
hand interposed, and the gash was closed ; but he sought 
the iirst opportunity to tear the wound open again, and he 
bled to death. Sin has brought you into your present 
condition, and to suppose your sinning on, I cannot. 
I hope better things of you. But what are you grasping ? 
O be persuaded to let all go, everything, and lay hold upon 
Christ, sa}'ing ^vith Jacob. " I will not let thee go, except 
thou bless me." Hold on like him, and prevail! 

14. Hearken unto Jesus ! " Whosoever he be of you that 
forsaketh not all that lie hath, he cannot he my disciple.'' Luke 
xiv. 33. Forsake all, then, and rise to the surface of these 
waters of despair. Jesus is there, and will be witli you 
tlicre, as vAiXx sinking Peter among the waves. The devil is 
at the bottom where you have be^n entangled, and the 
mouth of hell Is thereabouts. Satan has great advantage 
tliere ; and lie is terrible when he gets the advantage, '•'■ Lest 
Satan sJiould get the advantage of us,'' Avas St. Paul's depre- 
cation ; but he had just remarked upon a manifest advantage 
he and others had over the fiend, " We are not ignorant of 
his devices." Ah! ignorance of his devices is fatal to many. 

15. Hearken, then ! AVhen you rise to the surface of 
hope, lay hold upon Christ by faith, and you cannot sink. 
Are you not on the surface this moment? Strike out "the 
arms of mighty prayer," and with tlie hands of faith feel 
after Christ ; — so sure as lie was near to sinking Peter, he 
will be to you. " O Jesus I" cried a drowning sinner in the 
river Mf-rsy, at Liverpool, who had just been ••apsized from 



306 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. . 

a small-boat, " O Jesus ! must I go from the bottom of the 
Mersy into hell f That moment a voice rang through his 
soul, probably from the Holy Spirit, or an angel of God, 
"Swim !" " I cannot swim," he exclaimed, in an agony of 
fear and horror. But the voice, — it was no audible one,- 
sounded through his soul again, just as he was going down 
the second time, I think. " Strike out, and swim !" again 
and again it was repeated, quicker than hghtning. He did 
strike out on reaching the surface, and struck the capsized 
boat that had floated to him, seized it, and was saved from 
a watery grave, and the sinner's hell. I saw him afterwards 
near the banks ^of the Mersy, conversed with him, and found 
him happy in God. 

16. Give ear, O perishing sinner! "Strike out, and 
smm," — out with the arms of faith, calling on the name of 
Jesus ! Strike out I-^-half hope, half despair, but strike out 
like that drowning man who determined not to go to the 
bottom again while he had an arm on his shoulder or 
strength to use it ; though he never swam in his life before. 
Strike out like him, and the life-boat of the world, — Jesus, 
the sinner's friend, will place himself instantly within the 
grasp of your faith, and shall save you from perdition, and 
you shall triumph in the God of your salvation like that 
rescued and pardoned smner on the banks of the river ! 
Yes ! cry out again and again, " Lord save mcT Hallelujah ! 
The sinner has got hold of Jesus. Now save him Lord 
Jesus ! Shout ye sons of the morning ! Christ and the 
sinner have met at last. Begone Satan ! Haste, and away 
to thine OAvn hell. The prey has escaped. Shout ye sons 
of the morning ! Shout je children of light. 



A VOICE TO THE PENITENT AND IMPENITENT. 307 



Yes ! one more sinner has escaped the yawning gulf of 
perdition ; one more sinner that was lost is found ; one 
more, yes, and yet another and another ! O, I would cry 
out with Petrarch of old : 

" Victorious faith ! to thee belongs the prize ; 
On earth thy power is felt, and in tlie circling skies !" 

And another sinner has repented unto life ; and another 
— saved — happy — all enfolded in the arms of Jesus ! Bear 
them, O Clu'ist . Jesus, my Lord ! bear them in thy bosom, 
even as the tender shepherd his lambs. 

Away ! away old Leviathan of hell, away, — dive from 
Time's surface into the gulf of eternity, sink into the pit that 
is bottomless ; for thy prey has escaped. Plallelujah ! 

Shout, all Heaven, shout ! For it is there w^e would 
have it told, the glorious news to reverberate, till our glorious 
joys is echoed back from every tiiumphant breast in Heaven ! 
till our ascriptions of " Glory to the Lamb" shall be returned 
by all your replying voices, and those words, ^^ This , our 
brother that teas dead is alive again; and was lost, and is 
found," — Luke xv. 9 — return to us with a " Glory to the 
Lamb,'' by all your replying voices ! Hallelujah ! The 
sinner's fnond was, indeed, among the waves, — was walking 
over those chilling waters of despair, beneath which the poor 
sinner was perishing ; and all because he had so long refused 
to lay hold on Chn.-t as a present Saviour, waiting for him 
at the surface ! lie glad and rejoice, O my soul. O, what 
victory upon oaith ever i)ro<lue('(1 such joy as this! J5e glad 
an<l rejoice, all ye wlio are capable of il ! Ivise ye ti-inni- 



308 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

pliant multitudes and sing, sing in the majestic Old Hundred, 
sing,— 

" Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 
Praise Him all creatures here below ! 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 

What next is to be done ? " Multitudes I multitudes in the 
valley of decision," cried the prophet. Multitudes ! multi- 
tudes are sobbing, crymg for mercy. Come, ye disconsolate ! 
Come, ye languishing ! Come, all ye with the hearts 
wounded or hard, but miserable ! Come all of you, — as 
many as can kneel around this altar and near it ! Those 
who cannot find room here, hasten down into the large 
lecture room. What is to be done ? Hearken ! " Pray one 
for another that ye may he healed^ This is the resource 
pointed out by the Holy Ghost. To this we betake our- 
selves. And now, glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen ! 

" To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Who sweetly all agree 
To save a world of sinners lost, 
Eternal glory be !" 



■GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 



PART SECOND. 



CHAPTER I. 



POSITIONS OF THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH. JOURNAL. 



« 



August 1, 1845. {Friday Morning.) 
IME speeds onward, " gallops withal ;" and my 



%^^3l soul is very humble withal ; and the great world 



'^ ^ around us is not in the best of humor with us. 
We have taken the giant by the throat and floored him more 
than once. We have shaken hands aud parted, but he kicks 
back, cares not a straw for us, and we care not a pin for the 
world ! so far at least as its opinions, its smiles or its frowns, 
its tongue or its liand are concerned. The deathless souls 
tliercin, wliich are being led captive by the devil at his will, 
we resolve to rescue. This forces us to be the aggressors, 
and God giveth us the victory, as he did to Abraham and 
his trained servants at Dan/ Gen. xiv. 15. 

It is by pretension only tliat tlie world cares not a straw 
for us ! There are straws afloat between us, aud they show 
which way the wind of tlieir thought and uneasiness blows, 
liut straits break no bones, tliougli, if there were plenty of 
them thoy might smotlier or impede us somewliat. How- 



312 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

ever, it is evident they consider us worthy of more attention 
than straws. We have become the citys talk akeady ; but 
*' the ivorld Jcnoweth us not, because it knew Him notj" as saith 
St. John. It does not know what to make of us, we are an 
enigma to it ; but it knows very well that we understand 
it, and that we know what the devil would make of it, and 
what Gpd would make of it, and what we would make of it 
— that we would turn it " upside down,'' (Acts xvii. 6,) be- 
cause it is wrong side up ! It is no enigma to us ; nor are we 
to it so much as is pretended, were it candid enough to con- 
fess. But, O, my soul ! be ambitious to be numbered among 
those whom God knows and loves. There are stars, high in 
space, which have no names ; they are, in the sight of man, 
" little and unknown," but loved and prized, doubtless, by 
their Creator. They are in yonder galaxy, or milky way, 
that stripe or " silvery wreath " around the brow of heaven, 
.fringed with the deep blue firmament ; it is full of stars, but 
so far removed are they from the earth, and so small from 
our point of observation, they have, as yet, no astronomical 
name, I believe. To the Lord of hosts are they known. 
He telleth their numbers and calleth them by their names. Ps. 
cxlvii. 4. Theirs are not the only names men have not got 
their tongues around ! mine, for instance ! Never mind ! if 
so be the name of Jesus be rightly spelled, pronounced and 
experienced in the hearts of the multitudes around us, saving 
them from their sins ! Matt. i. 21. I love to think of that 
expressive title, " Thy hidden ones,'' Ps. Ixxxiii. 3. They 
are too small for the world's notice, yet the Lord notices and 
loves them, tells their number, and calls them all by their 
names, and bears them through a sea of light to thrones 



- POSITIONS OF THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH. 313 

eternal in tlie skies. They stand high in the estimation of 
angels ; and are verj^ dear to all the souls which earth has 
sent to Heaven. 

Lord Jesus, my Saviour, if the honor of thy cause and 
the salvation of souls bring me nearer to my fellow-men, and 
thereby enlarge my magnitude and force me into notice, O, 
do not suffer me to lose the peculiar honor enjoyed by thy 
" hidden ones,'' and thy " little ones" who may well glory in 
being little and unknown to the great ones of the world, but 

" Loved and prized by God alone." 

And, O, my Lord ! whatever may occur to this singularly 
constructed name of mine, honor or dishonor, gi*ant this my 
humble, nay, my very great and exalted request ; 

" In thy fair book of life divine, 
My God' inscribe my name ; • 

There let it fill some humble place, 
Beneath the slaughter' d Lamb I " 




CHAPTER II. 

HOLINESS OF HEART ^A PAEADlStJ. JOURNAT- 

'Saturday Morning, Aug. 2. 
SPOKE last night on holiness, encouraged believers 
to press after it, by going on unto perfection ; from 
the fact that they do enjoy the first fruits of it 
already in their hearts. That opinion of the old phi- 
losophers is capable of farther expansion than I gave it ; — 
that when God created the earth he made pro\dsion for a 
continual and universal spread of vegetative hfe, by sowing 
in its surface-mould the germs of a universal paradise ; that 
is, He sowed therein the seeds of all the varieties of herb and 
plant, and tree and flower which continue to charm, profit 
and regale the senses of man through all his generations. So 
when the Lord converts a soul. He sows therein the seeds of 
every virtue which are designed to take root and grow to 
perfection. In the surface-mouldy so to speak, of a regener- 
ated heart the seeds of a universal paradise are sown by the 
hand of the Holy Spirit. He is then caUed to go on unto 
perfection. Heb. vi. 1. And the more swiftly he advances 



HOLINESS OF HEART — A PARADISE. 315 

to that blessed state the more speedily do these seeds grow 
and expand until the heart becomes altogether an Eden of 
love, a universal paradise ; more and more so, until it is 
transferred to the paradise above, where those divine graces, 
M'hicli budded and blossomed upon earth, shall advance to a 
still higher perfection, and so onward throughout eternity. 
A fact this, which every truly converted soul realizes most 
surely upon earth, if faithful. 

]Mr. AVesley was of the same opinion : " Imvard sancti- 
ficatton begins the moment we are justified. Then the seeds 
of every virtue are so-wn in the soul. From that time the 
believer gradually dies to sin and lives to God : yet sin 
remains in him, yea, the seeds of every sin, till he is santi- 
fied throughout, spirit, soul and body." How clearly, then, is 
it the duty and privilege of eveiy such person to press for- 
ward to the perfection of the work of gi'ace within him ! 

It is seldom one has such a good opportunity of a power- 
ful appeal to self-interest as this theme afibrds. About 
twenty entered irfto the enjoyment of purity, and ten or 
twelve were justified. We have had about forty-three saved 
from the world this week, and the same number of old 
believers sanctified, and eight other members justified. Total 
ninety-four. 

♦ *♦*-*-* 

Evening:. — Enjoyed a sweet walk along the banks of the 
river Ouse this afternoon ; had great rest of soul and sweet- 
ness of thought and feeling. The world can offer nothing 
equal to this. " Is not the gleaninff of the grapes of Ephraim 
letter t/ian the vintage of Abi-ezcr?" said (iideon to the 
grumbling men of Ephraim ! JikIl^cs viii. 2. Are not the 



316 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

gleanings of the grapes on the hill of Zion better than the 
vintage of carnal pleasures gathered on the gHttering heights 
of fashion ? How much more when the pleasures of grace 
are gathered in the ripe vintage of purity and perfect love 
within the soul. 

That busy bee winging its way from flower to flower in 
quest of honey was suggestive. It was not disappointed, 
because within those flower-cups Providence had stored a 
sufficiency for the bee. But it is different with man.; for, if 
he fail to And the honey of pure happiness in Jesus, who is 
" the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley,'' he must 
expect to be disappointed everywhere else ; all the creatures 
God has made are incapable of supplying it, as much so as 
artificial "flowers honey for the bee. This is the reason why 
so many are sent empty away who come to the creatures 
within their reach for happiness first, neglecting Jesus. It 
was so with me many a year, until I learned the secret and 
rectified the mistake ; — sought and found happiness in Jesus 
Christ, first and alone ; then and not till then I found it else- 
where. It was wonderful then how much of the honey of 
true happiness I found in every creature God has made. 

A pious man talked of building a chapel for God in his 
heart. Mine, blessed be God, is built and dedicated. One 
of the fathers observed, he who carries his chapel about with 
him may go to prayer when he pleases. The idea of the 
Apostle is a pleasing theme of contemplation: '•'For ye are 
the temples of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in 
them, and walk in them, ; and I will he their God, and they 
shall he my people." 2 Cor. vi. 16. But the temple must be 
kept in good repair ; the roof, that is the head, must be pre- 



HOLINESS OF HEART — A PARADISE. 317 

served from error ; error in the head is bad as a leaky roof 
above a congregation of 'v\'orshipers ! Then the windows of 
the temple, the eves of the understanding, must be kept 
unblurred by the world, the flesh and the devil ; and the door 
of the temple — ^the heart — barred, bolted, and secured against 
the assaults of the tliree-fold enemy aforesaid. And what 
else is wanting, but an intellectual altar, bearing the Lamb 
of God that taketh aicay the sins of the world, and mine ; and 
then all the affections, enkindled by fire from heaven, blazing 
around — as the wood around the sacrificial lamb ; and all 
this inner temple of the living God lighted up brilliantly 
■with Christian doctrines and principles ; and all the powers 
of the MIND, reason, judgment, will, memory, conscience, 
and all the passions and affections there, as worshipers ; — 
zeal, love, desire, fear, joy, gentleness, goodness, meekness, 
patience, brotherly kindness, charity — all as adoring wor- 
shipers ! and this temple vocal Tvdth prayer and praise, and 
fragrant with the incense of gratitude to Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, and filled mth the glory of God, as Solomon's 
temple of old, when tlie priests could not stand to minister. 
1 Kings viii. 11. 

But what about faith and hope ? O, I had them there 
among the worshipers, of course ; but ready to do battle for 
God, in rescuing souls from the power and dominion of the 
devil ! but my mind got off from chapel and temple, caught 
away like I*hillip of old, but by a few stanzas from one of 
the old poet?, T forget which. They popped into my head, and 
carried me off to view hope and (ho Chnslian, as the sorts of 
thf prophets viewed from afar Klijali and Elisha traveling 
towards Jordan. These were the lines : 



318 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" True hope is Jacob's staff, indeed, 
True hope is no Egyptian reed, 
That springs from mire, or else can feed 

On dirt or mud : 
By hope just men are sanctified ; 
In the same ocean safe at anchor ride, 
Fearless of wreck by wind or tide, 

By ebb or flood ! 

Hope's the top window of that ark, 
Where all God's Noahs do embark ; 
Hope lets in sky-light, else how dark 

Were such a season ! 
Would 'st thou not be engulf 'd or drown 'd, 
When storms or tempest gather round, 
Ere thou cast anchor try the ground : 

Hope must have reason. 

Hope hath a harvest in the Spring, 
In Winter doth of Summer sing, 
Feeds on the fruit when blossoming, 

Yet nips no bloom : 
Hope brings me home when I'm abroad. 
Soon as the first step homeward's trod, 
In hope to Thee, my God I my God I 

I come ! I come !" 



CHAPTER III. 

PENCI LINGS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

■^^v^^ ilfoTifZay Morning, August Uh. 



j ) X HAVE finished mj work in two chapels, and have 
%>,^ commenced in the Centenary Chapel, in which 

^^^^£fi were crammed three thousand people last night, 
whom I was enabled to address with as much ease as seven 
or eight hundred in our American-constructed churches. 
This is fact. Tlie AYesleyans in England, how closely they 
continue to model their chapels after Mr. Wesley's plan ! 
And how excellent a judgment and taste did he show in 
snch matters. 

It is evident that here in this Centenary Chapel the 
great battle must be fought and won. We have only been 
skirmishing as yet ; however, through the power of God, we 
have taken nearly four hundred sinners from the ranks of 
rebellion, and, perhaps, about seventy sympathizers with the 
outsiders, who were entrenched in the church but unsaved^ 
all converted to Christ now, and loyal and happy, and some 
of them entirely sanctified. IIow undeniably evident is all 
this in the life, looks, and experience of these happy multi- 
tudes. 



320 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

We have had some hard fighting, it is true. At New 
Street Chapel, a few evenings since, I had to take the broad 
axe of truth, and hew down sinners like a madman ; — and 
hewed down thej were. How wonderful its power when 
the Holy Ghost sets it on. It was, as one called it, " wild 
sword law," but the eifects were glorious. 

Yesterday I assisted at the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper. The influence from above was powerful, — ^love- 
tokens from Jesus many and sweet and convincing. He 
was " The Master of the Feast," and all seemed to have on 
" the wedding garment," for most appeared to have the 
marriage joy, and the tender-heartedness, besides, that bowed 
before the Lord, while celebrating the death by which we 
live. A blessed utterance was that of one, that the Lord's 
Supper comes to us like a ring plucked off from the finger of 
Jesus, or a bracelet from His arm, or rather like His picture 
from His breast, delivered to us with such words as these : 
" As often as you look on this remember me ; let this help 
to keep me alive in your remembrance, when I am gone and 
out of your sight." Surely that purpose of the Sacrament 
was delightfully realized yesterday. 

Col. i. 19. A fine text for the occasion, ^^ For it pleased 
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.'' The Lord 
helped me. The congregation was deeply moved in appre- 
hending the distinction between the humanity and divinity 
of Christ : his humanity as seen in his weariness, hunger, 
thirst, and poverty, in his eating, drinldng, sleeping, weep- 
ing, etc., — ^his God-head as displayed in his God-like 
miracles. There was a silent awe that dared not to move, a 
breathless hush, as if the God-man who walked the Gallilean 



PENCILINGS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 321 

Sea, and who hushed the wdld wail of the tempest, was there 
in His most essential majesty and glory. Many, too, realized 
that sweet sentiment of one, that Jesus resembles that mystic 
ladder Jacob saw, its foot on earth, its top in heaven ; his 
hiunan nature upon earth. His divine nature in heaven, and 
our gi-ateful thoughts, like happy angels, ascending and 
descending upon Him. The figure is good, for it is by His 
human nature we find a pathway to His divine. He was 
" God manifest in the fleshy'' that is made evident and under- 
stood by God-head emanations from His human and physical 
nature ; God-head manifest through His manhood in the 
mighty works which He performed among men, and to which 
He so often appealed in proof of His divine character. 
Had a vigorous time at night, and fifty saved. 



14^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

DAVID GREENBURY A CHARACTaR. 

Tork, August 7, 1845. 

' f ^^ T is David Greenbury you mean. He was bom in 
your county, sir ! Wliat have you to say against 

^^^ poor David ? He was considered one of the worst 
sinners in Yorkshire. *' In prisons oft" as he says liimself, 
not for his virtues, but his follies ; not for his zeal in reUgion, 
but for zeal in wickedness ; not for Christ, but Beliel ; — the 
grief of his heart-broken mother, and the terror of his neigh- 
borhood ; a curse wherever he went ; a gambler, a pugilist, 
a drunkard. 

But the Gospel found him, in the last stages of degrada- 
tion, almost " a devil,'' like Judas, and on hell's brink. The 
Gospel of Jesus Christ found him without a coat for his back, 
a hat for his head, or shoes for his feet ; not yet twenty-eight 
years of age, and yet a finished specimen of Satanic ivorkman- 
s/iip. The Gospel found him, lifted him up, set him upon 
his knees, and extorted the long loud, repenting cry, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner / save, Lord, or I perish ! 0, save, 
or I sink into helV This cry was heard, his soul was saved ; 



DAVID GREEXBURY — A CHARACTER. 323 

tliis •RTetched creature found mercy through faith in the 
blood of the Lamb, the friend of sinners smiled upon him and 
said, " Go in peace and sin no mm'e.'' David arose a new 
creatore ; his body in 7'affs, but his soul clothed with " the 
garments of praises, — beauty for ashes," and fiUed with holy 
gladness and love to God and man, — singing, as if he would 
have heaven and earth hear ; 

" For this [uo more a sea of uigbt] 

To Thee my thankful heart I give ; 
To Thee who calPdst me into light, 
To Thee I die, to Thee I live. 

' " Suffice that for the season past 

Hell's horrid language fiU'd my tongue ; 
I all my words behind me cast, 
And lewdly sang the drunkard's song. 

■• But, O, the power of grace divine ! 
In hymns I now my voice can raise, 
Loudly in strong hosiinuas join, 

And blasphemies are turn'd to praise ! " 

Wliat is David now, that his " probation " has expired, 
and two or three years besides? He is still happy in God ; 
a thorough tee-totaller and an honest conscientious man ; 
respectably clothed, and in his right mind, and highly 
respected by everybody, except now and then by those in the 
succession of the " elder hrotJter,'' whose sayings are recorded 
in the fifteenth of Luke ! David is " a new creature" indeed, 
— '-'■ Behold all things are become new.'' 2 Cor. v. 17. A better 
definition of a Christian than that text you could not find, 
sir, nor a more striking illustration of it than David Grecn- 
burv ! 



324 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

The lion has become a lamb. He of the handcuffs and 
chains of iron is now bound by the chains of love, gracing 
his neck and gestures, while he runs in the way of God's 
commandments. He of " the hundred fights' now fights the 
goodjlght of faith with Gospel weapons, and often shouts the 
victory too ! The arm which once flourished like an Irish 
shillalah over the heads of imperiled crowds, is now often seen 
raised in prayer over the heads of trembling penitents ! The 
gamester no longer is seen throwing as it were his last stake 
for time and for eternity, trembling with rage and despair. 

Greenbury is the wonder of Yorkshire, sir, the enigma 
of infidels, the amazement of all the rowdies and 1' tramps " 
of city and county. " If David Greenbury has found mercy 
who need despair % " Nobody doubts that the Gospet has 
made him a new man. He has an eye like a prince, sir ; soft 
and beautiful as a star in the brow of evening. He preaches 
sometimes, and with a tongue ofjire, full of native eloquence, 
accompanied by a torrent of affection and sympathies towards 
poor perishmg sinners, to which your Ouse would be too 
tardy a comparison. " But his grammar.'' Ah ! there you 
have poor David ! " And his pronunciation." Aye, there 
you have him again ! Never mind ! Better he should break 
grammar than break heads ! Better pommel the Queen's 
English than the Queen's subjects ! Wliat think you ? 

And " noise." Yes, yes ! " like Greenburj^ in a row ! " 
Aye ! the energy is there, the gestures, possibly, and without 
doubt the voice, but mellowed and softened by grace ; and 
his tones of kindness and words of love tell to everj^body he 
has been with Jesus ! His " noise " is " a joyful noise ;" 
and nobody is afraid of him now, except some hard cases 



DAVID GREENBURY — A CHARACTER. 325 

whose consciences teiTify them while Diivid speaks ; but the 
masses, and sonic of them the vilest and the worst, gather 
aronnd him M'herever he " holds forth " in Yorkshii-e, and 
bend to liear bim speak as if he were an angel from Heaven. 

It will not do for you to say anything against David in 
Yorkshire, sir ! He is a diamond in the rough. The most 
igi\orant and vulgar cannot help perceiving that ! A precious 
gem in an iron setting. But in him hath God shown all long- 
suffering for an exa7nj)le to all such sinners in Yorkshire who 
may feel their need of like mercy ; and for an encourage- 
ment of all v.'ho believe and pray for the salvation of sinners, 
even of the worst sinners, who may say of David Greenbury, 
as one many years ago said of a very wicked man named 
John Kogers, who had been converted, when he wanted to 
exercise the greatest charity and hopefullness regarding any 
wicked person, would say, " I will never despair of any man 
for Jolm Rogers' sake." No sinner need despair, nor none 
despair of him while David Greenbur}'- lives ! 

David remains poor in this world's goods. He works too 
hard in the Lord's vineyard to allow him to become rich in 
his own. l>ut having neither wife nor child, he gives care 
to the winds, and his whole heart to Jesus ; and so that his 
pious old motlier has plenty, and sinners are converted, his 
mouth is filled with songs of thanksgiving and praise all the 
day long, lie knows not what earthly troubles he may meet 
or wliat may overtake him ; nor does he seem to care, but 
confidently marches on ; — never was better illustration of 
>Irs. Osgood's lines, — 

" But like a rill tliat eingeth still, 
Whate'cr be in its wav, love! " 



326 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Such a soul is a blessing to any society wherever he may 
go ; shows what religion can do for a man. How then 
can you, and certain others, say a word against David*? 
Could any thing but the Gospel produce a change such as 
■this? Could philosophy ? As easy by a word change the 
spots of the leopard, or by a lecture the Ethiopian's skin, or 
change the Hon into a lamb, the tiger to a kid, or the serpent 
to a dove, or turn a devil into an angel, or bring forth purity 
out of putridity ! 

He has, through love to me and interest in my work, paid 
a short visit to York. Not to look on and idle away his 
time. Nay, but to work mightily for God, and enjoy these 
times of refreshing, and to buckle his armor tighter on for 
fature conflicts in soul-saving. He will be off from us by 
and by, like a blazing comet, into colder regions, carrying with 
him light, life, warmth and joy wherever he goes. He has 
stood among us here, knelt among us, prayed among us, 
exhorted us, hearts melting, eyes streaming, like the rock 
under the wonderous rod of Moses ! Hallelujah ! " For I 
am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that helieveth, to the Jew frst^ 
and also to the Greek f' aye ! and to Englishmen ! But I am 
ashamed of everything else that would attempt to do the 
work of the Gospel without the Gospel. Again I say halle 
lujah ! And if you are not disposed to join me in it ; why, 
then, the church militant and the church triumpJmnt are ready 
for the shout of praise. Plallelujah ! 



CHAPTER V. 

HOLINESS AN ARGUMIZNT FOE, POTENT WITH BELIEVERS, 

_^^^ %^i^ Saturday Morning, AiigustWi. 



^. P;l-i^UKITY was my theme last night: I showed that as 
iife-Jv sanctification progresses in the soul " the fruits of 
■^^^^ the Spirit " ripen, and a mental paradise is propor- 
tionably enjoyed ; a good " encouraging thought " this for 
seekers of full salvation. It is well to keep this in view 
when preaching on the subject. It is a great preservative 
from tartness and harehness, or scolding oratory, when one 
is on that theme ])efore tlie tardy and the unwilling. But it 
is a potent argument with those who are convicted deeply 
fur the blessing. It is good, also, to remind such that they 
are not left in ignorance as to the heavenly sweetness of this 
bltpsing, because they have had rich foretastes of it in their 
past experience in justification ; love, and joy, and peace, 
and purity, and otlicr graces, all, indeed, in an imperfect 
etate, because in a transition state, sin frequently bub])ling 
up from the doptlis within, like mud from a f()ul-])ottomed 
spring, roiling and spoiling all, yet enjoyed long enough to 
re.'dize the paradise of enjoying sucli graces continually. 



328 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

It is good to tell them that sanctification begins with 
justification, and is inseparable from it, — that is, incipient 
sanctification, its commencement ; as day begins with the 
dawn and is inseparable from it. And, as at day-dawn 
there is no part of the atmosphere without some light in it, 
so in justification there is no part of it ,that has not got the 
light or first principles of sanctification in it ; not, indeed, 
Avhat it shall be in the noon of its perfection. It differs from 
that as day-dawn differs from the glory of a summer noon. 

The audience entered readily into the idea of justification 
being the beginning of the soul's Gospel-day ; and sanctifica- 
tion diffused through it, as sunbeams through the cloudless 
atmosphere of a summer morning. Thus the justified soul* 
'has an answer within herself, when she sings : 

•' Whence these wandering gleams of light ? 
These gentle ardors from above ? 
"Which make me sit like a seraph bright, 
Some moments on a throne of love !" 

What are these but the harbingers of a more glorious 
Gospel-day ! — " these gentle ardors from above," are but as 
so many sunbursts of the sun of righteousness through the 
gathering mists and clouds of unbelief; that glorious sun 
hovering, as it were, on the soul's horizon, and scattering 
already the cold mists of pride, passion and unbelief; indi- 
cating the speedy approach of a glorious summer day to the 
soul ; but depending mainly upon the steady motions of the 
soul towards Him, as our natural sun had to await the 
motions of our globe from west to east in order to fill this 
eastern hemisphere with the light and sunshine we have all 



AX ARGUMENT FOR HOLINESS. 329 

enjoyed this glorious August day. But mark, if the motions 
of our earth were as fickle as some in seeking sanctification, 
it would bo a long time before the fruits thereof would come 
to perfection. 

From whence come the fogs and clouds which so often 
way-lay the sun, and muffle all the sky, and which have 
created more than one drcaiy day in this noble August? 
From whence but from the surface of your globe, fiuid or 
solid ? And from whence those clouds of pride, env}', evil 
desire, impatience, and unbeUef, which often render our 
spiritual day so drear}- 1 "VMience but from the impurity of 
an evil heart of unbehef These fogs and clouds are to the 
souls what theh* namesakes in nature are to the day, and 
those doing business in it, uncomfortable to landsmen, and 
perilous to navigators ! 

As " sun-bliuks," and soft breezes, and gentle ardors in 
the atmosphere bespcidi fair weather and more benignant 
skies, so do " these gentle ardors from above," which make 
the soul to sit seraph-like upon a throne of love ; they are 
what the old Latinists used to say of providential intimations, 
"great indicators;" — aye, as so many sweet pre-assurances 
that the soul shall soon be seated pcrmantly on a throne of 
love, — to " rejoice evermore, prai/ witJiovt ceasing, and in every 
thing give thanks,'' until translated to a throne above eternal 
in the lieavens. 

These items of my discourse may be of use to me in the 
future. l>ut I find this method of preacliing sanctification 
more winning, effective, and softening than a severer style, 
though tliat is sometimes neccssan.'. It is good thus to draw, 
after the lid, so to speak, has been taken ofitlic sepulchrcof 



330 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAYIJSG. 

the heart ; after the soul nas seen, as it was able to bear, the 
depths of its inbred corruptions. Over twenty received full 
salvation before the meeting closed. O, my Lord Jesus, 
make and keep me as holy and as pure as I am preaching 
others should be ! Amen. 

Saturday night, August 9th. — Enjoyed my favorite ramble 
along the banks of the Ouse this afternoon ; I was pensive, 
but peaceful, and penetrated with a deep sense of my many 
infirmities of judgment and speech, of flesh and spirit, but 
panting for more of the strength of Christ within, and a 
richer baptism of the Holy Ghost. I desired heaven also; — 
" growing and groaning thitherward," I could sympathize 
with the Psalmist, who, in one psalm, cries out " Quicken 
me ! quicken me ! ! quicken me ! ! !" no less than nine times/ 

The afternoon, and rural scenery around, so soft and so 
lovely — such as England alone can afibrd when in a pleasing 
mood. Paused at a well in the New Walk, and drank 

from 

" An iron cup, chained for the general use !" 

Here and there along the banks of the river an illustra- 
tion of the poet Gay's descriptive lines, as if he had pen- 
ciled them from life along this quiet streams 

" Far up the stream the twisted hair he throwg, 
Which down the murmuring current gently flows, 
When, if chance, or hunger's powerful sway. 
Directs the roving trout this fatal way. 
He greedily sucks in the twining bait, 
And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat : 
Now, happy fisherman, now twitch the line ! 
How the rod bends ! behold, the prize is thine !" 



AN ARGUMENT FOR HOLINESS. 331 

But the poor man-fisher walked on, praying and breath- 
ing after God, — 

'• His mind still bent, still plotting, where. 
And wLen, and how the business may be done," 

of catching the souls of men, who are swimming in the perilous 
river of sin and death. 

'• Lover of souls ! thou know'st to prize 
What thou hast bought so dear !" 

Well, thought suggested thought, and blessing came with 
thought till all was blessing. Blessings run into blessings in 
Christian experience, as one hints about felicities running 
into felicities! They assimilate like two drops of water, 
which seem to have a sort of mutual attraction for each 
other, and fifty drops ^\dll nm into one drop readily as two. 
It is so M-iih spiritual blessings. Music is another illustra- 
tion. All the separate notes blend till all the air is melody. 
The same may be said of sunbeams, they run together and 
assimulate till all the atmosphere is sunshine ; all the atmos- 
phere of the soul is melody and sunshine when the blessings 
from above do meet, assimilate, and harmonize as they 
always do when purity is at home to entertain them ! Aye, 
felicities run into felicities is the idea in grace as well as in 
nature. Hallelujah I 

However, O my soul, forget not thou hast some hard 
fighting before thee yet in York. Buckle on the armor, 
then, and prepare to endure hardness as a good soldier of 
Jesus Christ tliy Lord. Amen ! 




CHAPTER VI. 

"the law sermon." 

(he reader will remember a frequent allusion to 
"The Law Sermon," or a discourse upon the 
Decalogue, towards the close of Part L, in the 
sermons to awakened sinners and penitents, and a note 
promising an explanation in Part II. And it may be recol- 
lected, also, that at the close of one of his addresses, ]VIi'. C. 
intimated the necessity of opening " a heavier artillery " from 
"the spiritual batteries," and of closing upon them with 
" sharper weapons." How the intimation was realized, 
together with the promised explanation regarding "The 
Law Sermon," may be gathered from the following charac- 
teristic letter : 

Monday Horning, York, August 11, 1845. 
I had an awful time last night upon the moral law or 
Decalogue, and the utter impossibility of any soul of man 
attaining unto justification by it. Rom. iii. 20. 

It was one of the most awful seasons I ever witnessed, 
and I have seen Inany. " I am assured," says some one, 



THE LAW SERMON. 333 

*' till God shows a man the face of sin in the glass of His 
Law, till he make the scorpions and fiery serpents that lurk 
in the Law, and in the conscience, come hissing about him 
with then' deadly stings ; till he has had some sick nights, 
and son-owful days for sin, he will never go up and down 
seeking an interest in the blood of Christ with tears." 
Acting upon that assurance, I held up the glass of the Law, 
the whole ten commandments, before a congregation of, per- 
haps, three thousand souls. 

If ever a people beheld the hideous face of sin, and its 
exceeding sinfulness, they did then, for the Lord God and 
His Spirit did help me. The Decalogue awakened its thun- 
ders, till my own soul trembled before the Lord. Its scor- 
pions and fiery serpents did, indeed, awake, hissing most 
fearfully in the face of many a startled and wounded 
conscience. 

A celebrated divine in France remarked to his audience, 
when about to discuss the claims of the Decalogue, that if he 
had one wish, as to the proposed success of his sermon that 
da}-, it was to have the advantage Moses had at the base of 
Mount Sinai, at the giving of the Law ; if he could, even in 
Paris, show them, as Moses, the manifested God in the 
assembly ; if he could, like him, give the Law to the people, 
in the presence of the eternal legislator; saying, "This Law 
which I give }ou proceeds from God. Here is His throne ; 
there is His lightning ; yonder is His thunder." This was the 
advantage Moses had. Accordingly, continued the divine, 
never were a people more struck with a legislator's voice. 
He liad hardly begun to speak when, at least for that 
moment, all hearts were united, and all Sinai echoed as with 



334 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

one voice, crying, ^^ All that thou hast spoken we will do." 
But, alas ! in vain do we say, " Thm saith the Lord.'' You 
can only see a man in the pulpit ; you hear only a mortal 
voice. Could we show you God present; God authorizing 
our voice ; God sanctioning each law with a clap of thunder 
and a flash of lightning, and a peal of trumpets ! Such were 
the wants of the French divine. Such, indeed, was my want, 
also, in the beginning of the sermon ; a want which God veiy 
soon supplied. The manner differed, indeed, but the effect 
was most significant and awful. 

The audience felt the sentiment, that as the Holy Spirit 
is given to the Church, to indemnify her for the loss of 
^Christ's visible presence ; so the same Spirit is given to every 
God-called minister, to indemnify him for the absence of 
those Sinaitic tokens of the presence of the Law-giver of heaven 
and earth ; for surely such tokens were with us, as much as 
we were weU able to bear. O, it was enough, that the thun- 
ders of the great Law were heard, and its " fiery flying ser- 
pents " felt without the terrifying presence of the offended 
majesty of God. 

It is supposed that the Ceremonial Law was given in 
silence to Moses during the forty days he spent -with God on 
the Mount; but that the Moral Law or Decalogue was 
uttered by the voice of God himself directly to the ears of 
the people, and afterwards written by the finger oi' God on 
the tables of stone. Exod xx. 19 sanctions the opinion, 
where all the people are represented as saj^ing to Moses, 
'* Speak thou with us, and we will hear : but let not God speak 
with us, lest we die." It has also been supposed, that as each 
law reverberated from the mouth of God, tlie thunderings, 



THE LAW SERMON. 335 

and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet mentioned 
in the 18th verse were repeated, "the mountain smoking" 
the while, and the people standing afar off. Thus, '■''Thou 
shall have no other gods before me ;" now a gleam of Ughtning, 
a peal of thunder, and a blast of that supernatural trumpet, 
and so on to the close of the tenth commandment. 

The object of such accompaniments, doubtless, was to 
signalize that code of laws above the ceremonial, as having a 
higher and more enduring position in the government of 
God ; to impress more deeply the minds of that listening 
multitude. With such awful sanctions as these they could 
not but realize the majesty and authority of the law-giver ; 
the strict holiness of His laws, and the fearful consequences 
of violating them. 

There were, of course, no such supernatural phenomena 
on the night in question. No ; but a solitary voice, convey- 
ing to each ear of the thousands present, each law of that 
Decalogue distinctly, and showing its nature, spirituality, 
extent, and its condemning power ; calling, as by the voice 
of a trumpet each conscience to be faithful to itself and to 
God, in pronouncing " Guilty or not guilty," in every breast. 

But, O, my soul, tremble now at the thought of the sure 
presence of the Divine Majesty. He was there judging those 
thousands, and judging thee also. Alas ! knowing well my 
own short-comings, and my past transgressions of this law, 
both before and after I knew tlie Lord, in this or that par- 
ticular ; O, how my soul bowed itself in self-condemnation, 
thou^rh pardoned for all through tlic blood of the Lamb, 
while it bowed itself Samson-liko, in dragging down the 
pillars ujjon which the whole fabric of many a Pharisee's 



336 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

self-righteousness stood ;— crash after crash till all seemed 
ruined above, below, and around every sinner; and hell's 
prison-doors seemed as if opening wide to receive the con- 
demned, the ruined. My soul trembled in view of its un- 
worthiness though in the full realization of that sublime spec- 
tacle of one of the poets : 

" He in the current of destruction stood, 
And warned the sinner of his woe ; led on 
Immanuel's armies in the evil day ; 
And with the everlasting arms embraced 
Himself around, stood in the dreadful front 
Of battle high, and warred victoriously 
With death and hell." 

And the following, also, had some illustration, but not alto- 
gether, the residue has yet to be realized; and, I verily 
believe, there were convictions fastened and planted to bring 
it all about very soon. 

*' Men heard alarmed. 
The infidel believed, 
Light-thoughted mirth grew serious and wept ; 
The laugh profane sunk in a sigh of deep 
Repentance ; the blasphemer, kneeling, prayed. 
And prostrate in the dust for mercy called • 
And cursed old forsaken sinners gnashed 
Their teeth, as if their hour had been arrived." 

But, if ever the scorpions and fiery serpents which lurk 
in the Law came hissing around an audience with fiery and 
deadly sting, they did then. 

The image-chambers and retiring-rooms of many a sinner's 
heart were penetrated. Every law of that Decalogue seemed 



THE LAW SERMON. 337 

like a beam of Omniscience. Thoughts which shunned the 
day were tipped ^\\i\\ an aw^ul light. Inclinations, un- 
owned and undefined were unriddled, and purposes ferretted 
and charged home. 

Tliere was attention deep-fixed and still as the night. 
Eesponsibility fixes thereabouts. That, to use an idea of 
the pliilosopliers is the dew-point of divine influence, also ; — 
the stand-point for the just decision of God concerning every 
truth-awed sinner ; the pivot, so to speak, upon which salva- 
tion or condemnation is likely to turn. Attention arrested is 
what Dr. Chalmers considers, " the looking-faculty of the 
soul in a state of action. It is an organ which moves itself, 
and fixes at the bidding of the will. It is thus that the 
understanding reaches its conclusions, and by which responsi- 
bility is deeply incurred. 

There are conclusions which incur condemnation. Want 
of evidence may be a favorable consideration with God. But 
to neglect that portion of evidence within reach renders a 
man responsible for his conclusions. God will deal with such. 
The sinner cannot create light nor bring it from the upper 
sanctuar}'. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. But he 
can open his eyes to the light when it comes. He may love 
it or hate it if he ^^^ll ; but come it will in one way or time, 
or other : for there is a time light which lighteth every man that 
Cometh into the vorld. John i, 9. Pie may open or close the 
eyes of his understanding towards it. So far as this is wil- 
fully done so far God holds him responsible. So then, upon 
this principle lie is not only accountable for what he does 
know, but for wliat he midit know, or might have known. 
May not the decisions of the Great Day proceed on the same 
15 



338 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING, 

principle ? Is there a thought more alarming could be im- 
pressed upon the mind of a sinner ? 

Well, the sermon closed, and most of the congregation 
fled from the place But for the prayer-meeting I should 
have done the same, — to pray and groan the burden of my 
heart away in secret before the Lord. 

The prayer-meeting began, but all was death. The 
people seemed stunned, stupified, bewildered, discouraged, 
hardly the breath of life in them. " Who then can be saved f* 
St. Paul says, " The letter killetli, but the Spirit giveth 
life," or " quickeneth," as the margin has it. And in Rom. 
vii. 9, he speaks of having had life without the law, but death 
when it came with its condemning power. Alas ! we had 
" the blackness of darkness " and death everywhere, in the 
prayer-meeting, in the chapel above, and lecture-room below. 
And poor sinners that lingered behind might well say with 
the lepers of old at the gate of Samaria ; " Why sit we here 
until we die ? If we say, we will enter into the city, then the 
famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still 
here, we die also.'' I thought of what Martha said to Jesus : 
" Lord, if thowhadst been here my brother had not died'' Lord, 
if thou hadst been in my sermon this death might have been 
avoided. Jesus was spoken of at the close. Calvaiy and 
its scenes were not forgotten ; — " Christ the end of the law 
for righteousness to every one that believeth ; but that did not 
seem to be the end or drift of the sermon, but to condemn and 
damn for the past. Calvary was not introduced soon enough 
to prevent death. The cordial was mthheld too long, and 
my patients died on my hand. I did not preach Jesus long 
CTiough nor tenderly enough, nor with sufficient emphasis. 



THE LAW SERMON. 339 

And yet the law •was not set forth as a source of life, but 
chiefly as a rule of life broken thousands of times ; I did not 
set Jesus forth as the source of Hfe for those who were legally 
dead. " Our life is hid iciih Christ in God." It was my aim 
to show that eternal death was the penalty for every violation 
of the law ; — that"' " the law worketh T\Tath " to ever}' 
sinner ; — that it was impossible to be justified by it, seeing 
that a broken law could never justify. That was all clearly 
set forth and fearfully felt ; but not that we may be justified 
by faith through the alone merits of Christ's death. The 
mountain smoked and burned, and obscured everything but 
sin. Jesus himself says, " And I, if I may be lifted up, I 
will <^raw all men vnto me ;" I did not hft them up as Moses 
did the brazen sejpenf on the pole, — hiffh up above law and 
penalty ; — not so as eveiy serpent-bitten sinner might behold 
him. 

The Law sent home guilt. Guilt following upon the 
heated conscience, is like a splash of water upon hot iron ; it 
fdls all the room with vapor, — evei'}i;hing is seen obscurely. 
One compared guilt to a mist wliicli hinders the soul fi'om 
seeing Christ; — as the ^^ pillar of cloud" separated the 
Egyptians from the Israelites so that they could not see them ; 
— an odd comparison, but so it was. The Law made con- 
science hot, guilt fell upon it, a cloud of condemnation arose 
and covered all the sky. " The Sun of Riyhteousness " was 
liidden, and darkness was over all the land. 

However, when God intends greatly to bless and elevate 
his people it is often his plan first to greatly depress. It is 
said : " Tlie Txjrd killeth and malceth alive" 1 Sam. ii. 6, 
not that lie makclh alive and then killctJi. I was struck to- 



340 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

day with Ps. cxii. 4 : " Unto the upright there ariseth light in 
the darkmss ;" and also with Micah viii. 8 ; " When I sit in 
darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me," And again, 
Isaiah ix. 2 : " The people that walked in darkness have 
seen a great light : they that dwell in the land of the shadow 
of death, upon them hath the light shinedJ" Not light first, 
and then darkness, but the darkness first and then the light. 
"But is passed from death unto life" Not from life unto 
death. The bitter first, and then the sweet ! as the Israel- 
ites had bitter waters, and then God gave them the sweet ! 
This seems to be God's order with all who enter his service. 
The devil's plan is just the contrary ; — ^life first, death at last ; 
— ^the sweet at the beginning and bitter at the end,—," the 
bitter pains of eternal death," as the Church of England 
expresses it. 

Perhaps, too, many were growing on legal soil and needed 
the legal sickle ; or the fires of Sinai scorched and withered 
them. Luther used to say, " The Law of God and the Will 
of man are two adversaries, that without the grace of God 
can never be reconciled." Surely those two adversaries met 
on Sabbath night, and the conflict was fearful. The Law 
knocked Will on the head and floored him, and stood over 
him ready for another blow if he stirred hand or foot ! Alas ! 
all was still as a death chamber. Grace seemed frightened 
from the place by the thunders of Sinai, and reconciliation 
between Law and Will seemed impossible mthout the pre- 
sence of Grace. The adversaries met, Jesus interfered not 
between them. The Law was victorious, and the sinner 
died. This is my sorrowful story. After conversing with 
God I usually betake me to the pen, either on journalizing 



THE LAW SERMON. 341 

or correspondence. In this I have often found consolation, 
reproof or instruction in this soul-saving hfe. O, who is 
sufficienf for these things ! None, O Lord, my God, but 
those Avho are called of God as was Aaron. Heb. v. 4. 
2 Cor. ii. 16. 

After all I am persuaded this sermon was needed in 
York. That otiier remark of Luther has done me good, for 
it has a more extended application than he intended ; that 
in preaching justification bj faith he laid the axe to the root 
of the popish error of justilication by works. Now God 
enabled me, for a somewhat similar reason, to lay the axe 
of the Law to the root of pseudo-popery hi this city ; cutting 
up by the roots " the damnable heresy,'' that good works are 
part pa}Tnent for our justification ; that there is hfe, and 
peace, and salvation in the Law, if we are ingenious enough 
to compound with God in a recognition of Calvary ! Instead 
of that they were made to see and feel that there was 
nothing for them in the Law but wrath, death, and per- 
dilion. 

There were two trees which need the axe of the Law : 
Antinomianism and Legahty. The one despising the Law as 
a rule of hfe, adhering to ftiith only. The other rejecting 
life from Christ through simple faith, and clinging to the 
Law, both as a rule of life and a source of life. Each of 
tliesc trees rivalHng the German and Sweden Christmas 
trees ; one decorated with such fruit as : " Christ has ful- 
filled the Law. Ills righteousness is ours. Therefore Ave 
have nothing to do with the Moral Law. There is more 
virtue and safety in breaking it, than in keeping it ; because 
it is hard to fulfill its righteousness, and not trust in its 



342 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

righteousness ; tlius, if we are justified by the Law, we are 
fallen from grace. To believe is our rule. That is all that 
is required of us. Obligation to the Decalogue is ^Legality, 
which we disclaim. If broken, it affects us not, seeing it is 
not our own righteousness, but that of Christ, in which we 
are to stand acquitted. In this we are clothed." Aye ! like 
the garment of blind Bartimeus, beneath which all was filth 
and raggedness, which people saw plainly enough, doubtless, 
when he threw away his upper garment ! 

The fruit of the Legality tree is, " We are neither adult- 
erers, fornicators, murderers, drunkards, nor thieves, nor 
covetous, nor Sabbath-breakers. We do to others as we 
would have them do to us. To say we are not worse than 
others is saying too little; we are better, a great- deal better. 
This cannot all go for nothing in the matter of our salvation. 
Tliere is something to the credit side of our account with 
God ; that which may effect something towards our justifica- 
tion." Here there is no confession of sin, no intimation of 
repentance, nor any acknowledgment of a felt necessity for 
it, nor of Christ dying as an atonement for their sins ; so far 
as they are concerned the necessity for his sufferings were 
but problematical ; as if they would affirm St. Paul's suppo- 
sition, ^^ If righteousness come hy the Law, then Christ is dead 
in vain." Gal. ii. 21. But they forget Paul's plain declara- 
tion, " But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of 
God, it is evident." Then he goes on to show why it is 
evident. Because the just are required to live by faith, and 
shows that the Law is not of faith ; " Do and live" is its 
motto, otherwise death is the penalty; and on this principle, 
*' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are 



THE LAW SERMON. 343 

written in the hook of the Laiv to do them.'' Gal. iii. 10. To 
this we have the voice of St. James, " For whosoever shall 
keep the ivhole Law, and yet of end in one point, he is guilty of 
all" James ii. 10; — facts which they were pointedly 
reminded of during the sermon. 

Against tliese corrupt trees the Law-axe gleamed fear- 
fully and struck. The consternation reminded one of that 
which prevailed among the prostrate trees of Baal's gi'ove of 
old, against which the ten axes of Gideon's servants had 
prevailed during one eventful night. Ten shai'p axes are 
those "ten commandments," truly! "Sin appeared in its 
bloody colors then !" exclaims one ; " it struck me with hor- 
ror and amazement, and I died ; the good opinion I had of 
myself vanished away, and I died ; I was as one that had 
given up the ghost !" Aye ! thus it was with Saul of Tarsus, 
if we take the seventh of Romans as his experience. 

Well, this is a long communication, and I must close. It 
has lessened the burden upon my heart some, and it may be 
interesting to you. But I have more to tell you, reserved 
for another letter. We are looking up — hoping — ^believing. 




CHAPTER VII. 

MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 

York, August 12th, 1845. 

ELL, as I remarked, the prayer meeting after the 
sermon closed, with ^'failure " woitten upon all 
our hearts, and we retired discouraged enough. I 
never had seen anything exactly like it. It seemed as if the 
revival was ^^ killed dead," as one expressed it; but there was 
good sense in the remarks of another ; — that some sermons, 
like some sins, only tickle a congregation for the present, and 
when all is over they think nothing of it, have been amused, 
as at a theatre, and may be pleased to come again ; at least 
will speak well of the perfonnance. But there are discourses 
which rend consciences, as do some sins, and then those 
consciences rend the owners, and leave them half dead ; that 
this is the preaching, after all, that A\dll bring eventually 
most glory to God ; although it may bring persecution or 
distress upon him who so preaches ; that a heaven-sent ser- 
mon may, like an unexpected blow, strike a congregation 
senseless for a httle time, only for a little time, they will 



MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 345 

soou a^vake again to terriLle life ; when God's house will 
become like a great hospital after a bloody battle ; filled with 
the gToans of the wounded and the dying, and the cries of 
those suffering amputation, and so on ; but eventuaUy 
vocal ■u'ith the cheeiful voices of the convalescent and the 

healed. 

****** 

Brother John Unwin, who had come over from ShefReld 
on Saturday night, expecting " a gi'eat field-day of battle 
and of victory," returned early on Monday morning, sorely 
disappointed, leaving poor J. C. gi'oaning in expectation of 
a week of sore conflict. Indeed we were amazed ; — could 
liardly tell what to expect. If consciences were indeed rent 
where were the usual outcries for mercy ? instead thereof, 
there was the silence of the sepulchre. Wliere were the 
distressed ? Where were the wounded ? If depraved souls 
were struck dovra. into inseusibility, would they come to life 
again? "We hoped so, and that there might be "a lively 
coming to," though not very agreeable to delicate eyes and 
cars. Or, if the masses were "frightened out of their wits," 
would they venture back again ? We shall see. 

******' 

I liked that remark of one, that " The Law sends us to 
Christ to be justified, and Christ sends us to the Law to be 
regulated." Alas ! my congi-egation did not fly to Christ, 
but from him. IMost of tliem, I fear, clung to the LaAv that 
condemned, and would hew them in pieces, as Samuel did 
Agag before the Lord, and in a sense imitated Paul in an 
extremity, "/ stand at Ccesar s judgment-seat where I ought 
to be judged; — / appeal unto Onar f' and Justice, like 
15* 



346 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Festus, said, " Hast tliou appealed unto Csesar ? unto Caesar 
shalt thou go ;'' and my poor solitary desponding soul says 
with Agrippa, on the same occasion, " This man might have 
been set at Uberty had he not appealed unto Csesar." These 
poor sinners might liave been set at liberty, into the glorious 
liberty of the sons of G-od, had they appealed to the clemency 
of Christ, instead of to the tender mercies of the Law, for 
they are cruel, as Solomon speaks of the mercies of the 
wicked. That preacher in Germany had the right of it 
when he said, that no sooner does the Law of God vindicate 
its injured majesty in the conscience of any one, than the 
bondage of that curse is felt. No sooner is this felt, gener 
ally, than the terrified individual undertakes to satisfy the 
Law in the way of obedience and good works, and he is 
pretty confident he has abiHty sufficient for the purpose. 
Alas for ]iim ! He has set his foot upon a path from which 
no one ever brought anything back but broken bones, a 
wounded spu*it, and a terrified conscience. He finds bis 
sincerest endeavors defeated. He tries to capitulate, and 
come ofl^" on amicable terms. He resolves to keep it as ivell as 
he IS able. Will tliis satisfy the Law ? No ! for it requires 
'perfect obedience. It seizes the debtor to the whole law, and 
says, " Pay what thou owest" and the poor debtor, half des- 
pairing, says, ^^ Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all;" 
which, at length, comes to perfect despair, in this regard, and 
then the poor ruined debtor flies to Christ, who undertakes 
his cause, cancels the enormous debt, and sets him into the 
liberty of the sons of God ! 

****** 
Here and there I find one who, like Job, is bravely 



MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 347 

maintaining the legal principle ; who right loyally to God 
and self, is saying : " Though he slay me, yet ivill I trust in 
Him ; hut I will maintain, mine own ways before Him.'' Job. 
xiii. 15. They will trnst in the mercy of God through 
Clirist, but will maintain they are not so bad as the Scrip- 
tures would prove them to be, in the eye of the Law of God. 
If God would have every mouth stopped, and all the world 
become guilty before Him, Rom. iii. 19, sure there might be 
some exceptions. Sharper truths are yet necessary for these, 
and it is Hkely they will hold fast their carnal or legal integ- 
rity, and appear in the Lord's courts again, to justify their 
oAA-n ways before Him. The spmtual Jerusalem of such 
must be searched as by hghted candles. Zeph. i. 12. Lord 
Jesus, furnish me with thy candles, to meet this emergency. 
O what difficulties stand in the way of the Gospel. If St. 
Paul needed the pi-ayers of the brethren^ that the word of the 
Lord might have free course and be glorified^ surely I need the 
prayers of God's people. 

****** 
We have hope in God. It is related of some serpents, 
that though their sting be so fatal, and their poison so ter- 
rible in its effects, they afford an excellent medicinal oil. 
"Well, those serpents which came hissing from the Law have 
some oil in them, if not medicinal altogether it may supple 
the Avill, to use an idea of Locke, aye, and the joints of some 
stiff-limbed and stiff-necked sinners, that they may run to 
Chri^;t and hastily bow to his yoke. But it is said a stone 
dipped in oil will harden. If this oil does not supple the 
will it may harden the heart. We shall see. God originally 
wrote the Law on tables of stone, which afterwards were 



348 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

broken in pieces. These hard hearts upon which He wrote 
His law on Sabbath night may yet be broken in pieces by 
the power of God. The Law was re-written on new tables. 
And after these hearts have been broken, and " a new heart 
and a right spirit " given, — " even a heart of flesh." — Ezek. 
xxxvi. 26, — His own Spirit will re-inscribe the Law thereon ; 
and hohness of heart and holiness of Hfe become twins, as he 
of old proved from Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. 

But the poor body required rest, aye, and mind too ; — 
retired, hoping for sleep, and hoping still stronger for better 
times, — the more glorious ministration of the Spirit What a 
theme for meditation under such circumstances, is 2 Cor. iii. 
3, 8. O, but if I ever preach from the Law again, my re- 
solve is to write over the sepulchre of its terrible records 
what the angel said to Mary at the empty sepulchre of Jesus : 
^^He is not here, He is risen /" Christ is not to be found in 
the Law, but above it ; — ^has still power upon earth to accept 
repentance, tears, and relying faith, and to forgive sins, and to 
save all to the uttermost who come unto God by Him. The 
Law, by itself, admits of none of these, but the Gospel does ; 
yet the Law, as a schoolmaster, may bring us to Christ, to be 
justified and saved. Amen ! Gal. iii. 24. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. ASPECTS OF THE 

AUDIENCE. 

Js^%^^ York, Aug. 15, 1845. 

J%^(& ES— " the human face is often an index of the 
£ph^ heart," but a false index too often, so that it can- 
""""^^^ not always be trusted. Nevertheless it often 
betrays its o^\Tier. There are seasons when men's souls 
" look out at their faces " unmistakably. You are welcome 
to my " notes," such as they are. Had you sat with me in 
the pulpit after the discourse in question, and " taken notes," 
also, it would have been amusing to compare notes ! The 
whole occasion has left impressions upon my mind never 
to be obliterated. 

You know tlie pulpit in the Centenary Chapel is at the 
entrance, so that a full view of the retiring congregation may 
be had if one Tvishes. The faces of that departing multitude 
were deeply interesting and awfully solemn and varied. It 
could not be concealed that the Law of God had made a deep 
impression, one not to be readily shaken off or effaced. 

Here and there the careless aspect, or the rude and the 
indifferent, or the loiteiing smile, like moonlight upon snow. 



350 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

And here and there a forced carelessness, but showing un- 
pleasing thoughts in spite of them. Others all sternness or 
unbehef that things were just so bad and ruinous as repre- 
sented ; and* near to such an one, the lineaments of scepti- 
cism defiant. And close by loomed up a face, 

" Unrepentant, dark and passionless." 

And one and another with " something between careless- 
ness and trouble ;" and another and yet another, aye, scores, 
looking as if " the hour of fate was hovering nigh," — dark 
thoughts not to be shunned and difficult to be concealed. 
And some with musing look at variance with their thoughts ; 
— for there are looks Hke politeness, not felt, — ^unnatural. 
Others, and not a few, who seemed to say with Addison : 

" 'Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts, 
Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face, 
When discontent sits heavy at my heart. 

Ah, me ! woi-ds do not come at my caU, to express the 
stony, the dissatisfied, the contemplative air of this and that 
face in the retiring masses ; — and faces pale as ghosts upon 
a dark cloud, " sad workings of the bloodless face telling 
of the tooth of fire at the heart," as one remarked ; and some, 
as Bums observed upon a certain occasion : 

" Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare. 
With features stern — " 

As if the poor preacher was to blame for this " Law-storm," 
as some have named it, for making the sinner's case so truth- 
ful and so desperate withal. Aye ! and on the streets, sallies 



MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 351 

of vnt and levity, and " a dainn for the preacher," showing 
that tlie tongue and conscience had broken commerce. 

But there were countenances not a few, ujDon which there 
were traces undeniable, that Pollock's sentiment was rife at 
the heart ; — "Nothing now seems worth a thought, but has 
eternal bearing in it." It was plain, plain as could be, that 
many who came with the veil of midnight on their heart had 
it rent in twain, like the temple's veil in the hour of dark- 
ness and crucifixion. 

And some of the delicate, the educated, the refined, 
passed on haughtily, who had had their feelings shocked by 
the introduction of "that seventh commandment," — rather 
by the indelicacy of the preacher, in calling things by their 
true Scripture names ; — for daring to break into the chamber 
of imagery, Ezek. viii. 12, and pour the glare of Sinai's law 
upon the creations of an impure imagination — daring to in- 
quii'e of the " proudly chaste," after the manner of Chal- 
mers, whether, " If they had been removed from all that was 
licentious in practice, they had recoiled in the unseen solitudes 
of their hearts, from all that was licentious in thought, pas-. 
sion^ desire, or in the conceptions of the imagination or fancy ? 
— whether they had spurned away from tlie sanctuary of 
tlieir thoughts every unhallowed visitation ; and constantly 
presented to the approving eye of Heaven a bosom with aU 
the adornments of a pure and spiritual temple ? with all the 
graces and beauties of an unspotted offering ? " Aye ! this, 
and more " intolerable to be borne," in appeals to the out- 
wardly unclean, and to the inwardly defiled by the obsceni- 
ties '• of the imagination of the thoughts of the heart," which, 
in certain states, can be ^^ only evil continually " Gen. vi. 5. 



352 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

And to have the temerity to cry : " He that is without sin 
among you let him cast the first stone.'' John viii. 5. And, 
for having the boldness to say again with Jesus, " Whoso- 
ever looketh on a 2Voman to lust after her hath committed adul- 
tery with her already in his heart.'' Mark v. 28. How- 
ever such sentiments may have been repulsed by some, 
their memory and conscience were swift and impartial wit- 
nesses. 

And the man of business was there, — ^hitherto so proud 
of his general integrity ; — the despiser of the petty thief, the 
burglar or the highwayman was shocked above measure to 
perceive how the principles of these outlaws had, one way or 
another, been intermixed with his own manifold transactions ; 
— how far short he had come even of Burns' standard of an 
honest man, — " Whose eye, even when turned on empty 
space beamed keen with honor ;" — and how the principle of 
injustice worked in the things which were least, and brought, 
in the eye of Grod's Law, the condemnation of dishonesty ; — 
those tolerated artifices and practical disguises and wiles of a 
deceitful policy of which Dr. Chalmers speaks, which, ac- 
cording to him, have spread themselves to so great an extent 
" over mercantile society, and which have hardened and worn 
down the conscience of those who for years have been speed, 
ing and bustling theii' way amid a variety of manifold trans- 
actions ; — clenching the whole with, "Thou shalt not steal," 
and riveting the conviction home and fast by that declaration 
of Jesus, " He that is faithful in that Vv^hich is least, is faith- 
ful also in much : and he that is unjust in the least is unjust 
also in much." Luke xvi. 10. The case of that youth ap- 
prenticed to a dry good's merchant told powerfully, who 



MORE ABOUT THE LAW SERMON. 353 

told a lady who had purchased a silk dress, that he per- 
ceived, as he measured it off, that the silk was fractured some- 
what, and she refused it and went away. The merchant 
overheard the young man's remark and was angry, and wrote 
immediately to his father, a farmer in the country, to come 
and take his son home, adding, " for he will never make a 
merchant." The farmer hastened into town and inquired of 
the merchant what was the fault of his son, and received 
this reply, " It was only the other morning a lady called 
to buy silk, and he was so simple as to tell her the silk was 
a httle damaged. It is not our business to make known such 
things ; the eyes of the purchasers must be their judges in 
such matters." " Is this all you have agamstmy boy ?" said 
the farmer. " O, yes, he is veiy well in other respects." 
" I am glad of that," rejoined the farmer, " I think more of 
my boy than ever. Come, my son ! Come out of this place, 
I would not have you remain here for the world ;" and so 
farmer and son bade the merchant good morning, and left 
him to his own reflections. O, how intolerable is this sort 
of preaching to a large class of business-men. 

Ah ! my dear friend, it is easy scribbling about such 
things, and easy reading what h.as been scribbled, like per- 
using an account of some great battle ; but quite another 
thing to be a principal actor in the scene ; I mean, it is no 
easy matter to bring one's mind to preach thus ; to have one's 
hand turned against every man, and to provoke a return of 
tlie compliment ; like poor Ishmael, vjJiose hand was against 
every man, and every mans hand against him. Gen. xvi. 12. 
It i8 a cross, and more so at one time than another, accord- 
ing to more or less deficiency of spiritual strength. Vmi 7io 



354 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

cross, no crown. If we will wear the one, we must bear the 
other. Amen ! 

Now, then, my work is before me ; I must try to have 
these awakened sinners delivered from the Law-curse, and 
then hand them back again for Law-conduct. Bring them 
to Jesus Christ their life for Justification, and then back again 
to the Laiv for regulatmi. That is it ! — freedom from Law 
penalties, but obligation to Law precepts. Lord Jesus help 
me ever, and thine shall be the glory, I need, not tell my 
friend how much I need his prayers to Christ for me. 



CHAPTER IX. 



IN THE FUR N A CE 



^'^i^p^y^f^ York, Friday, Aug. 22, 1845. 

)^^. GOOD man named Argerius, who preferred a 

r;;?7^-j prison rather than offend his conscience, wrote 

^^^y from thence a cheering letter to a friend, dating 

it, " From the pleasant garden of the Leonine prison." Well, 

here I am confined to my sohtary room, may date from 

thence. A severe attack of illness night before last, similar 

to that at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., a few years ago, when 

death came very near unto me ; but was not permitted to* 

repeat the blow, or I should never have seen England. 

And now in the city of York, in the dead hour of the 
niidit, it seemed as if he looked me in the face, but departed 
from me about sunrise. Help me to praise the Lord ! This 
lias not been the first blast against the candle of my poor 
life, but it bums still. " Behold the miracle, O, my soul ! " 
lias been my grateful language. This is Providence, — be- 
hold the sparkling of the gem, health, I hope, begins to 
sparkle again ! hke a gem in an unfavorable setting. 

Must try to preach to-night if I can stand upon my feet. 



356 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

I was thinking to-day of the old general, who when in the 
last stages of an incurable disease, rallied in his tent on hear- 
ing of an unfavorable turn in the battle, had himself carried 
upon the field, and seeing his troops waver, give way panic- 
stricken before the enemy, rallied them, rolled back the tide 
of battle, shouted victory and died. 

Battle has its risks, and so has such a conflict for souls 
as this. We are '^fearfully and wonderfully made,'' says the 
Psalmist. Aye ! " wonderfully made ! " How amazing the 
wisdom displayed in one's physical and intellectual structure ! 
Yet how ^''fearfully made .^" so easily shattered in pieces. A 
few thousand fall upon the battle-field, — " blown by battle's 
whirlwind into deserts of eternity," and how much is said 
about the event, while over thirty millions die every year, and 
Httle is said or thought about it ! 

A few, and but a few ministers of Jesus die early and 
suddenly by battling for souls, while vast numbers of preach- 
ers and professors die from other causes. But the will of the 
Lord be done. I like what an old divine said, " Let my 
candle go out, if the Sun of Eigliteoiisness but shine." Amen 
to that ! 

To end or to die., is written upon the face of everything 
beneath the sun, except the human soul, and health of 
course is included in the general doom. The stately pine, 
the sturdy oak, and the delicate flower, I haye seen them 
perish; stateliness, sturdiness and delicateness wasted by 
wind and weather, by disease or shock of lightning or storm, 
— they drooped and died, or vv^ere shattered or overwhelmed, 
the flower the soonest, but not the surest. It is so with poor 
humanity also, and the grave shuts up the story of one's days 



IN THE FURNACE. 357 

in silence and in darkness. But is that all ? Paganism could 
say as mucli. Does Cliristianity say no more ? O yes ! my 
wearied spirit ! it points thee to a life to come ! — to an im- 
mortality beyond ! As a German preacher beautifully re- 
marked, that the Scriptures do not attach much importance 
to what we call deaths as regards the children of God ; even, 
as we ourselves at the birth of a butterfly do not linger at 
the ruined chrj'sahs, but direct our whole attention to the 
beauteous creature, thence coming forth to the hght ! 

Those words of Jesus are near, " 1 must work the work 
of Him that sent me while it is day : the night cometh when no 
man can work." John ix. 4. I reatze this more than lean 
express. There is a work appointed me. My heart is set 
upon it. I have my day in which to do it. It must be done. 
Fully on this my mission prove. To God I owe it. To life 
I owe it. Life is too short to stand still. " I have plans 
for the life of forty Emperors," said Napoleon ; " but before 
I have time to execute two of them I shall be worn out body 
and soul. For our poor lamp does not bum long. Life is 
too sliort to stand still. As soon as I have thought I exe- 
cute." Napoleon for a perishable crown, humble J. C. for 
an imperishable one. We differ in our places of coronation. 
A crown that fadeth not away \s promised those who fight the 
good fight of faith. Let me aspire though I may never atta.in 
to the genius and energy of a Napoleon in this great war for 
souls ; he for a corruptible cro\\Ti, I for an incorruptible. 
1 Cor. ix. 25. Napoleon has stepped into eternity. Where 
is his glory ? where the thuuder-shout of millions to his praise ? 
where the trumpet that reverberated his name and fame 
among the nations ? where — O, silent as that little heap of 



358 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

dusty bones near which I stood in Paris last autumn, — all 
that remains of the hero ! 

But what saith my Lord ? " There is joy in the presence 
gf the angeU of God over one sinner that repenteth.'' And what 
said Solomon? "He that winneth souls is wise." And an 
Archangel from Heaven confirmed the same to the prophet 
Daniel by the great river Hiddekel, saying, " They that he 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they 
that turn many to righteousness as the stars, for ever and ever" 
Dan. xii. 3. In the margin of my old Bible, I see, " they 
that be wise,'' reads, " they that be teachers," so that the 
whole promise seems tp be for those who endeavor to win 
souls to Christ. They shall shine in Heaven, whether suc- 
cessful or not, because they were sincere teachers of God's 
holy word. But if they have turned many to righteousness, 
and were truly turned themselves — that is holy in heart and 
life and motive, then the stars of Pleaven are the constant 
illustrations of their future glory ! But, to know the full 
import of such a comparison would require an excursion 
among those glorious orbs of the firmament, wliich I intend 
by and by, if God permit, but O, not until my work has been 
altogether finished upon earth. Amen ! There is a great 
move among the masses. Before, it was hard work to con- 
vince them of sin, and to convict them of the fallacy of their 
presumptuous hopes and self-righteous confidences ; now care 
has to be taken that they sink not in utter despair of aU 
mercy. The Law of God, the Decalogue, is surely a terrible 
weapon. It penetrated scales of self-righteousness, thickly 
set as those of Job's leviathan, but the peril has been of their 
bleeding to death. 



IN THE FURNACE. 359 

Saturday, August 23. 

I did tiy to preach last night as well as I could. Jesus 
was present. TMiat a moving theme is sanetificatiou by 
faith ! Those remarks of Mr. AVesley, regarding his inqimy 
why so few orthe Scotch INIethodists enjoyed holiness, had a 
good effect ; — that he had mused on the subject frequently, 
and at length resolved to inquire into the cause on his next 
visit to the Scottish societies. He did so, and everywhere 
received the foUoudng reply, " ~\Ye see now we sought it by 
our works; we thought it was to come gradually; we never 
expected it to come in a moment, in the very sa&e manner 
we received justification." "What wonder, then, rejoined Mr. 
^A'esley, that you have been fighting all these years as one 
that beateth the air! An incident this, which should be 
studied in more countries than Scotland, for there is a great 
deal of this sort of air-heating all over Methodism. 

For my part, I see and feel the necessity more and more, 
of abiding closely and intensely, by the simple ivay of faith, 
such as we meet with everywhere in the New Testament ; — 
so well expressed by our Lord in that capital promise, Mark 
xi. 24, " Therefore I say unto *you^ what things soeimr ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye 
shall have them.'' I see, more and more, that in proportion 
as I insist and press full snlvation from all sin now, by just 
such a faith, signs and wonders are WTOught among my 
hearers. T see, more and more, that so soon as the IVIetho- 
dist people clearly understand the way of faith, such is their 
general sincerity and energ}', they immcfliately receive full 
salvation. So well have they been taught on all other points 
of doctrine, theoretically and experimentally, and accus- 



360 ' GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

tomed as they are to embrace them with their whole heart, 
that this doctrine, when clearly understood, is embraced with 
amazing energy ! 

The faith that purifies the heart. Acts xv. 9, all ears, 
all hearts are open unto it, when thus sanctioned by the 
word of God. " What is it ? How am I to receive it 1 — ^to 
exercise it, in order to be pure in heart? — for surely it is 
attainable, else why should the Scriptures speak of it, and the 
faith by which it is received ? " All this have I read in the 
fine countenances of thousands, when such a text has been 
announced. And, when fully comprehended, it becomes a 
source of instant and mighty power, — as last night, for in- 
stance! — a spring that moves all the wheels, and sets all 
agoing ; or, as one said, it is like a thread of silver running 
through a chain of pearl, it puts strength and vivacity into all 
the virtues of the soul ! 

Many were saved ; some with a great and majestic faith, 
and a joy unspeakable ; others with a small and a trembling, 
but obstinate faith, but it earned away the blessing. I could 
not but liken the one to sturdy Samson, shouldering the 
gates of Gaza ; and the other to the faith of frail Rahab, 
which could do little more than hang out the scarlet thread 
from her window on the wall of Jericho, and wailed, and 
believed, and was saved, she and all her family. There 
was salvation in Rahab's faith, as weU as in the faith of 
Samson ! 



CHAPTER X. 

PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

Jg^*^^ Monday Morning, Aug. 25. 

y^?^^ESTERDAY had strength equal to all demands. 
^^^(^ Hallelujah ! — a day of liberty, power, success ! A 
""^^^ day that lifted up my head above my enemies 
round about. There were over eighty souls saved. " Now 
is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
and the power of his Christ." Rev. xii. 10. O to be more 
like Jesus ! more holy, pure, useful. Amen. Tears flowed 
from many eyes in abundance. AU right, my Lord! He 
spoke well who said tears could not be put to better use 
than to weep for unpardoned or pardoned sin ; adding, tears 
for outward losses will do no more good than water upon a 
rock ; but tears for sin are blessed tears ; they are like the 
dew of Hermon, or Uke the long expected showers upon the 
valleys and hills of heaven-blest Israel. 

The wells which* the Philistines had filled with earth, 

were opened by Isaac and his servants at last. Gen. xxvL 

15. These precious weUs in York, which the devil and the 

Philistine world had stopped up with earthly-mindedness, 

16 



362 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

are open now, once more ! Hallelujah ! That is my soul's 
watchword ! and it sounds well through all her palace, and 
is re-echoed in Heaven — Hallelujah! Like Isaac and his 
servants, we had hard digging in the valley of the plain ere 
we came by the well-springs ; but we reached them at last. 
May they never be fiUed with earth again. Rather, may 
they ever remain open, and make the Wesleyan Joseph like 
Jacob's Joseph, " a fruitful hough hy a well, whose branches 
run over the wall." Gen. xhx. 22. If so, my soul shall 
bless God ever for my visit to York, and for these tears ! 

Some one has said our best commodities come by water, 
so our choicest blessings of grace often come by the water of 
penitential or believing tears. And so it was, we had rich 
arrivals yesterday of some of the best commodities of 
Heaven I 

Tuesday Morning, AiLg. 2G. 

On Monday nights I seldom preach ; being too fatigued 
after the Sabbath. We had a great and a good time last 
night. Had the privilege of h-earing Rev. James Everett 
preach. Text — " Lord remember me when thou comest into 
thy Tdngdom" — a rich, evangehcal discourse, with grandeur 
of thought, sparkling with gems of beauty, and full of tender 
unctions. 

It is Plutarch, I think, that compares speech to gold; 
and on this principle the less dross, the more valuable the 
metal. JMr. E.'s sermon was pure gold, free from the dross 
of wordiness. If " clearness and perspecuity is the grace of 
speech,'"' truly the speech of James Everett is graced indeed. 
Like the child in the faiiy tale, his mouth dropped all sorts 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 363 

of diamonds ! He is no ordinary man. It was a rich feast 
to'my hungry soul. But best of all, sinners were converted, 
and believei*s sanctiiied before the meeting closed. 

The Rev. jMr. Comock, one of the stationed preachers, 
addressed the united Wesleyan Sabbath Schools, a few after- 
noons since, in the Centenary Chapel, which was crowded 
on the occasion. 

His address was both ingenious and eloquent. Pie has 
the rare talent of winning and keeping the attention of chil- 
dren ; such as I have never seen surpassed. Every Kttle eye 
was intently fixed upon liim. His illustrations were simple, 
happy, and appropriate ; and his questions highly suggestive 
and instructive ; and were replied to by the children with a 
readiness and good sense that surprised ; reminding one of 
the grandsire in " The Pelican Island " with his little grand- 
son, 

" dancing at his side, 

And dragging him, with petty violence, 

Hither and thither from the onward path 

To find a bird's nest, or to hunt a fly : 

His feign'd resistance, and unfeign'd reluctance, 

But made the boy more resolute to rule 

The grandsire with his fond caprice. The sage, 

Though dallying with the minion's wayward will, 

His own premeditated course pursued, , 

And while in tones of sportive tenderness. 

He answer'd all its questions, and ask'd others 

As simple as its own, yet wisely framed 

To wake and prove an infant's faculties ; 

As though its mind were some sweet instrument, 

And b^, with breath and touch, were finding out 

What stops or keys would yield the richest music." 



364 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Mr. Cornock is a powerful preacher also. I heard hun 
preach on Monday night, a week or two since, an excellent 
discourse from that text, " Turn ye to the stronghold, ye pris- 
oners of hope'' Zech. ix. 12. His style and manner are 
widely different from Mr. Everett. He is a preacher of 
another class, but no less useful. JVir. E's discourse was full 
of quiet beauty, tact and genius ; that of JVIr. Cornock, 
vehement in utterance and gesture ; — " speaking as the 
thunder doth, louder and louder," " terribly, inconveniently 
in earnest ;" inconveniently to some, perhaps, but not to me, 
nor to the mass of his audience, I'll venture to say. It was 
a rich Gospel sermon, full of unction and life, and sprinkled 
with considerable talent, — 

" Thundering the moral of his story. 
And rolhng boundless as his glory 1" 



I 



CHAPTER XI. 

AGAIN IN THE FURNACE 



^^Ig^^r^ August mh. 

f ^l^K" H me ! Confined to my room once more ; but not 



■mK/ 



to my bed ; "a visitor again on tlie rounds of 
V* God's sweet will." Have had a similar attack 
of illness as the previous one ; about the same time in the 
night it came, lasted as many hours, but much more severe, 
and departed about sunrise, leaving me very weak. 

There is peiil in these sudden attacks ; only that the 
Lord reigns. But if he had not something more for me to 
do in tliis world they would carry me off. Jesus interposed ; 
I mark the sign ; and expect to be useful awliile longer. 
Had He not appeared for my lielp, as on tlie storm-tossed 
vessel's deck on the Galilean Sea, why I should have sunk, 
but with a shout, " Now, for Heaven, and heartily !" But 
He has spared my life, and thus prolongs the voyage. It is 
well ; long voyages n.^ually bring large returns to slii[)owners 
and mariners. O, may it be so in my case. Amen. 

Tliis is the time for reflection and self-examination. I 
would like quietly to note down here a few thoughts which 



366 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

are floating about in my mind. They may be useful here- 
after, or profitable now, and a recreation to my languid 
spirits. 

Those lines of Herbert are upon my heart with sweet- 
ness : — 

" Happy he, whose heart 
Hath found the double art 
To turn his double pains to double praise."" 

And how sweet to have the spirit of prayer, which, as 
good Cecil remarks, does not necessarily come with afflic- 
tion ; that if this is not poured out upon a man he will, like 
a wounded beast, skulk to his den and growl there ! 

This is the season, too, to feel the weight and the import- 
ance of what one has preached unto others. An invalid 
imagines everything heavier than it really is, because of his 
own weakness. But in this situation one only begins to feel 
the true weight of one's doctrines ; although, perhaps, this is 
never so fully realized as when one is actually upon the soli- 
tudes of the death-bed. " I have often heard you with 
pleasure," said a dying minister to a brother minister, who 
caUed to see him ; and looking steadfastly at him, continued, 
"but give me leave to tell you that, tiD. you come. into my 
situation, and have death and eternity full in view, it will be 
impossible for you to conceive the vast weight and import- 
ance of the truths you declare." A great truth that, which 
this brief interview with death greatly confirms. O, my 
Lord, yes ! May I preach to my fellow sinners after this in 
a manner I have never done before. If this be one of the 
designs of God in the visitation, may it not be frustrated. 
Amen. 



AGAIN IN THE FURNACE. 367 

These re\^val conflicts are ivearing ; they waste the body 
and consume the vital energy. St. John applies Psalm Ixix. 
9, to Christ : " For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up ; 
and the rej^roaches of them that reproached thee are fallen 
upon me" And so we read in John ii. 17, '•'' And His dis 
ciples remembered that it ivas ivritten, the zeal of thine house 
hath eaten me up." Jesus had entered the temple and created 
a singular commotion among the money-changers, sheep and 
oxen-dealers, and dove-sellers, overturning their tables, and 
with a scourge of small cords driving the whole of them out 
of the temple, thundering after them, " It is ivriftenj My house 
shall be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a den 
of thieves.'' These worshipers of Mammon took high offence, 
we may be sure, at what they considered His audacity and 
unwaiTantable interference with their business ; to say noth- 
ing of the manner in which he had so uncerimoniously exposed 
them to the laughs and jeers of the lookers-on ; and began to 
cast about for some means of retaliation. " The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten me up." Eaten up prudential and worldly-wise 
considerations; eaten up my influence and popularity with cer- 
tain classes. " The reproaches of them that reproached Thee^\ by 
making Thy house a den of tliieves, and unrebuked and un- 
avenged by the Lord God of the temple. " The reproaches 
of them that reproached Thee fell on me," who disturbed 
them in tlieir nefarious and God-dishonoring practices. 
Wl)en His disciples saw the results of our Lord's zeal, it 
recalled to their minds the prophecy in the ninety-sixth 
Psalm. 

Ah ! and so it is often with tlie faithful preacher ; — the 
zeal of God's house sometimes eats out more than liis pru- 



368 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

dence [in a worldly sense] and his influence and popularity, 
but his health also, the most precious boon of all ! 

Wliat Horace says of common jealousy may be said of 
that jealousy to which the prophet Ehjah confessed in the 
ears of the Lord of hosts on Horeb, '^ I have been very Jealous 
for the Lord God of hosts /" 

" The silent slow consuming tires. 
Which on mj inmost vitals prey, 
And melt my very soul away ! " 

Ah ! who that has ever entered the temple of Elijah's 
God, jealous for his honor and burning for the rescue of souls 
from the grasp -of Satan ; who that has ever there set on 
truth against error, and hoHness against sin, and the 
weapons of the Gospel against the strongholds of the devil, 
has not found those lines of Horace verified In soul and body, 
unless he has retreated from the field of conflict ingloriously ? 
who has not found it, if the battle-strife, as here, has con- 
tinued for months to be a mind-exhausting, body-wasting, a 
health-sacrificing and life-risking undertaking. That is, if 
he resolve not to deal with a slack hand ; and, especially if 
it happen that his body is too slender for the tremendous 
motions of a soul 'shaken and moved by the power of God. 
A flower-pot may accommodate a flower ; but if an oak be 
planted there it will soon outgrow it, and rend and shatter it 
to pieces. 

By the grace of God assisting I have worked hard ; but 
not harder than I ought or the circumstances demanded. 
Not knowing how long my day of working might last, or 
how soon the great and effectual door, still open, might close 



AGAIN IN THE FUENACE. 369 

in England, I resolved to strain every nerve, bring as many- 
sinners to Christ as possible, and then rest, when Jesus should 
seem to say by surrounding providences, as he did to his dis- 
ciples, " Come ye yourselves apart into a desert iilcice and rest 
awhile.'' Mark vi. 31. That hint of Jesus has great weight 
with my mind. " / viust ivork the work of Him that sent, 
while it is day : the nig lit cometh when no man can work" But 
last week came the trial of my strength, I fell down in sore 
affliction, but staggering to my feet again, i'ell upon the ranks 
of sin, sword in hand, and one hundred sinners fell beneath 
the power of God, wounded but crying for mercy, and were 
pardoned, healed — saved. 

But a second storm overtook and prostrated me again ! 
and here I am. 'WTiat of that % " Why should a living man 
complain ? 'Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth ; and 
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. " Lord, behold, he 
whom thou lovest is sick" was the anxious message of Martha 
and Mar}' to our Lord regarding their brother Lazarus. But 
Jesus said, " This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory 
of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.'' Never- 
theless, he allowed sick Lazarus to die, and to be buried four 
days before Pie came to the rescue ! 

***** 

These are love-tokens, then. Hush, unbelief! Down 
thou sceptic Reason ! speak out Faith, right loyally ! Speak 
out louder than their mutinous ginimblings. Faith has riglit 
of floor ! Speak out, Fuitli ! Aye ! now it does truly and 
eloquently ! — I am no bastard, but a son I Hcb. xii. 

A st<^)rin overtook the disciples on tlie sea of Galilee ; 
but that was no evidence against tlic voyage. Jesus was 
16* 



370 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

with them in the ship, and her prow was in the proper direc- 
tion in obedience to his commands ; so all was well. Their 
faith was greatly tried, but they were witnesses of a great 
miracle, so that their faith was no loser ; — " What manner 
of man is this ? for he commandeth even the winds and water, 
and they obey him." Luke viii. 25. How great a God is my 
God, for He commandeth the most rampant attacks of dis- 
ease, and they obey Him, and depart from the distracted 
body, and then, how great the calm ! 

The troubles on the banks of the Eed Sea were no proofs 
the Israelites had done ^vrong in coming so far, and by that 
way. Aye! though they were forced to march into the 
foaming waves, it was no evidence they were out of their 
providential path. They risked nothing, when all the world 
would have said they risked everything : " they went over on 
dry ground,'' in the midst of the sea : 

By crystal walls protected. 
* * * * J* * 

Som.e poet has said, 

" Euougli to live in tempest ; die in port." 

Nay ! nay ! . But rather go into Heaven in the tempest 
of a revival conflict and victory, when, 

"Like mighty winds and torrents fierce, 
It doth opposers all o'errun ; 
And every law of sin reverse." 

And then to have its whirlwind hloiv of the mantle 
of the flesh, place the soul in a chariot of fire, like 
favored Elijah, and be carried upward by it into Heaven ! 



AGAIN IX THE FURNACE. 371 

Hallelujah ! To enter glory mid such a work as tliis ! To 
have an instant view of its influence upon the inhabitatits of 
heaven ! To behold this hour that text verified, " For I am 
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that helieveth^' Rom. i. 16 ; 
and the next hour to behold Luke xv. 10, illustrated : 
*' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one 
sinnei' that repenteth." Oh, but to behold their joy over the 
hundreds now repenting on every side. O, what a glorious 
work is the Christian ministry ! aye, when a man resolves to 
make a glorious thing of it. 

Augustine used to A^'ish that Christ at His coming might 
find him either preaching or praying. Doubtless he had one 
or other of the wish, or both. Wliat sayest thou, my soul ? 
Tliou hast a similar wish, I perceive, and another wish 
beneath them, bearing them both, like another Atlas ! that 
Christ might call thee holy, and, therefore, ready ; and the 
wliole work He has given thee to do entirely finished ;— and 
tlie call come in the scenes of a glorious revival, thy mantle 
falling upon some young Elisha to pursue the victory ; thou, 
in the meantime, entering glory amidst the acclamations of 
angels over the scenes of salvation thou didst leave but a few 
moments before ! O my Lord ! O my soul ! what an honor ! 
what a privilege this ! 

And then, if like Lazarus, thou couldst return my soul to 
the body again, and be allowed to " c?o battle " for Christ 
and souls once more, how then wouldst thou preach? Aye! 
the ruhng passion is still strong within, I perceive ; so strong 
as to anticipate a wish to leave Heaven were I there — to 
come down to this sin-cursed earth, and enter the battle in 



372 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Strife for souls once more ! Well, well, my soul ! battle for 
God now, just as if all this had actually occurred. Thou 
canst do this now with less peril ; for were such a privilege 
and return to the body granted thee, thou wouldst rend and 
destroy it in a month ! A body immortal as thyself would be 
necessar}'^ to sustain thy mighty movements then ! It is well 
and better as it is. Fight now, faithfully, the good fight of 
faith, and thou shalt, by and by, enter into the joy of thy 
Lord. With these feelings let me totter into the pulpit to- 
night. Amen. 

August 29M. — Did so, and the Lord of hosts was with 
us, indeed ; many saved. 

Noon. — Frail is the flesh " that walls about our life." 
But the angels of God are the life-guards of His saints. They 
guard our life till our work is done ; — as ''Hhe tree of life " 
was guarded in Eden by a sword of flame, turning every way 
at the wonderous gate. Gen. iii. 24. 

Have enjoyed a walk along ,the banks of my favorite 
Ouse, — sweet and silent river, wandering and meandering 
onward "at its own sweet will," to the ocean, " like human 
life to meet eternity." And the poor invaHd wandered on 
at his own sweet will, staff in hand, — not, indeed, as the 
old poet Spencer hints, "holding staff in hand for mere 
formalitee," but from real necessity, — more than was wont 
in other days. Had great peace of mind and deep 
humility. 

O, but it is sweet to get out of the din of the city thus 
and alone, to look upon the fair face of nature, and as Keats 
says, " Breathe a prayer full in the smile of the blue firma- 
ment." One can bear then to see pride and wealth and 



AGAIN IN THE FURNACE. 373 

power towering high \\ithout ever fetching a sigh of discon- 
tent : — 

" They are but meu, and I'm a man." 

Aye, Clare ! and a child of God also I better still ! And, 
blessed be God ! a quiet mind, and a touch of heavenly- 
gladness ! "When Ufe gives these, what has she more to 
give? a little stock of health, O my Lord Jesus ! to be ex- 
pended for the good of the sheep for whom the shepherd died ! 

I am free from pain, but weak ; system rallying. Thank 
God for a youth of virtue, free from licentiousness and dis 
sipation. Had Satan and the world sucked the marrow of 
my constitution in youth, these attacks of illness would have 
broken me down quite ; at least there would have been less 
strength to bear or to rally. Praise my Lord Jesus Chiist ! 
he won my heart in my youth, and kept it, and in so doing 
saved me from a thousand snares, and as many bitter pangs 
of conscience and ailments of body. By this means he pre- 
served my constitution for the work whereunto he has called 
me. 

My heart panteth after The living God. Gathering my 
armor unto me, and trying to buckle it on for the light ; 
saying faintly with the German poet : 

" Of all thy goodness I'll be singing, 
Long as my tongue has strength to move ; 
To thee my greatful homage bringing, 
Long as my Iieart has poicer to love ; 
When feeble lips no voice can raise, 
My dying signs shall murmur praise!'^ 

Till then, my Hiith in God must be unquestioning, unhes- 
itating, and unsus{)ecting. This is tlic ftiitli, — this the spirit 



374 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

which, US Cecil remarks, God delights to honor ; he bestows 
it, and expects to see it produce in us the open ear and the 
disposed heart. 

Afternoon. — Out-door exercise is doing me good. "Walk- 
ing is better than riding ; especially if one has to ride with 
company ; for then one must converse, and that exhausts in 
my present state. But walking alone and conversing with 
God has not this effect. It was Cecil, I think, who said that 
the Christian's fellowship with God is rather a habit than a 
rapture ; — a pilgrim habit of looking inward, upward, for- 
ward, and walking steadily on, refusing to look backward ! 
This is much of my experience at the ' present time ; only 
that I incline much to look backward ; not, I trust, in the 
sense our Lord forbids ; but rather in the sense Moses enjoins 
in Deut viii. 2, " And thou 'sJialt remember all the way which 
the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to 
humble thee, and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, 
whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no.'' For, 
although I am only yet between thirty and forty years of age, 
yet I often find it good to obey, and retrace hfe thus far, for 
arguments in support of hum-ility and thankfulness. And 
surely my life furnishes arguments for both in great abundance. 

Well, I trust this afiliction has done me good. It has led 
me to a closer inspection of self, and I would hope to a closer 
walk with ,God. An old writer compared Job to a musical 
instrument, — whoever struck him, God, man, or devil, the 
note was, ^^ Blessed be the name of the Lord!'' And my poor 
soul has given out its little notes too ; not so loud, nor so 
emphatic as Job, but O, I trust sincerely, and in harmony 
with the divine TNdll. 



CHAPTER XII. 

BELIEVING FOR SA NOTIFICATION. 

York, Avgust 2G, 1845. 
To 



)E@/ jour inquiry I reply: The two revivals go on 
^%^^-)[ togetlier gloriously — justification and sanctiiica- 
^^ P tion. Of every one hundred souls saved, thirty or 
forty are tropliies of full salvation. Were it otherwise, 1 
should tremble for the stability of these new converts, the 
work among sinners spreads so rapidly. But numbers of 
the converts experience the blessing, and the church enter- 
ing so fully into the work of holiness, I have strong confi- 
dence. I preach directly upon the subject once a week, on 
Friday nights ; the impulse of which is felt several days, 
especially on the Sabbath. 

There are always " difficulties " to be contended with 
and overcome, in advancing tliis doctrine and experience, 
the cliief of wliich come from the opponents of the present 
act of faith. " Believe tliat ye do receive" Mr. Wesley's watch- 
word, in his day, through all his societies ; Christ's Avatcli- 
word also to the whole church, if she would but hearken t(j 
it, ^^ Believe that ye receive, and ye shall have." Tlie possible 



376 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

evils or mistakes arising therefrom, prevented not our Saviour 
from providing for its perpetuation, nor Wesley from its reit- 
eration. 

But it has been assailed in various forms, and by numer- 
ous authorities — in vain. It is not possible to undermine or 
overthrow so plain a declaration of Jesus Christ. Opposi- 
tion to it, in fact, is but antagonism to the doctrine of pres- 
ent salvation, deny it as they may. Nor have I ever yet 
found one such opponent to stand clear himself, iu the enjoy- 
ment of full salvation. 

How much safer would it be, in cases of mistake in 
sanctification, to seek a remedy for the evil in another way 
tlian by assailing so plain a promise of Christ ? its mistrans- 
lation, which has never yet been substantiated, certainly, to 
say the least, our present translation of Mark xi. 24, stands 
upon as good authority as any other that has been brought 
forward in opposition to it, and, I dare to say, better than 
translations from a doubtful reading, which Greisbach him- 
self marks, as merely worthy of farther examination, but 
inferior to the commonly received text. 

That Mr. Wesley was influenced by this is evident from 
the fact that he drops, ^' Believe tJiat ye shall receive" ^hen 
directing seekers of full salvation how to believe, saying, 
^''Believe that ye do receive" "believe that he doeth it" " and 
then He will enable you to believe it is done," " if nothing be 
required but simple faith, a moment is as good as an age ;" 
^^full salvation is nigh ; only believe and it is yours ;" if you 
seek it by faith, you may expect it as you are, and if as you 
are, then expect it now ; expect it by faith, expect it as you 
are, and expect it now. To deny one of them is to deny 



BELIEVING FOR SANCTIFICATION. 377 

them all. To allow one is to allow them all ; do you believe 
we are sanctified by faith ? Be true then to your principle ; 
and look for it just as you, neither better nor worse." 
" Sanctification is ' not of works, lest any man should hoast' 
^It is the gift of God,' and is to be received by simple faith. 
Suppose you are now laboring to ^abstain from all appear- 
ance of evil,' ^Zealous of good ivories,' and walking diligently 
and carefully in all the ordinances of God ; there is then 
only one point remaining : the voice of God to your soul is, 
' Believe and he saved.'' First, believe that God has prom- 
ised to save you from all sin, and to fill you mth all hohness. 
Secondly, believe that he is able thus to 'save to the utter- 
most all that come unto God through him.' Thirdly, believe 
that he is willing, as well as able, to save you to the utter- 
most ; to purify you from all sin, and fill up all your heart 
■with love. Beheve, fourthly, that he is not only able but 
willing to do it now. Not when you come to die, nor at any 
distant time ; not to-mon-ow, but to-day. He will then 
enable you to believe it is done according to His word." " To 
this confidence, that God is both able and A\illing to sanctify 
us now, there needs to be added one thing more, a divine 
evidence and conviction that he doeth it. In that hour it is 
done. God says to the inmost soul, ' Accordi?2g to thy faith 
he it unto thee I ' Then the soul is pure from every spot of 
sin ; it is clean ^from all unrighteousness.' " 

How much, after all that has been said and written upon 
this subject in modem times, have we improved upon ]VIr. 
"Wesley's mode of teaching if! But such were his views; 
you have met with them before, doubtless, in difierent parts 
of his works. How perfectly in harmony with the doctrine 



378 OLTMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

of a present and full salvation by faith ! And also with 
such passages as Acts xxvi. 18, '•'Sanctified hy faith" And 
Acts XV. 9, '''■Purifying their hearts hy faith,'' and Mark xi. 
24, " Believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have thew." O 
that our theological critics, who boast so loudly of their 
Wesleyan orthodoxy, and who are so concerned lest our 
people should deceive themselves in sanctification matters, 
would be persuaded to imitate more carefully our founder 
in their phraseology, and thus harmonize their language 
more consistently with the doctrine which they profess to 
believe and teach — salvation by faith, and not seem to an- 
tagonize it so much by their unguarded language. 

Indeed one cannot help being struck when reading ]Mr. 
"Wesley's tracts, sermons, and journals upon this great doc- 
trine, how his sentiments were opposed;' that he had to 
encounter objections from persons outside of 'Methodism, 
very similar to those which we have to encounter from some 
Methodists of the present day. 

Rom. V. 1, ''Therefore being justified hy faith" has never 
been so assailed by them in cases of mistaken conversions, as 
Mark xi. 24, "Believe that ye receive, and ye shall have." I 
mean with regard to mistranslation. No, the cause of mis- 
take or deception is sought for elsewhere, than in " Being 
justified hy faith." And why! Is it not because such are 
better acquainted by experience with the faith that justifies, 
than the faith which sanctifies. 

The above sentiments of Wesley, on this subject, should 
go far to settle the right sid^ of Wesleyan orthodoxy. It 
was thus he thrilled the life of faith into his societies, as he 
flew through these three kingdoms, like a flaming seraph ! 



BELIEVING FOR SANCTIFICATION. 379 

In like manner Fletcher taught : " Struggle, I say, till 
you touch Jesus, and feel healing comforting virtue proceed- 
ing fi'om Him, and when you know clearly the way to Him 
repeat the touch till you find He lives in you by the power- 
ful operation of his loving Spirit, till you are able to with St. 
Paul, ' / am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not 
/, hut Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the 
flesh I live hy the faith of the Son of God, tvho loved me and 
gave himself for me.' Gal. ii. 20. To aim aright at this 
liberty of the children of God requires a continual acting of 
faith ; of a naked faith, independent of all feehngs in a naked 
promise, — such as, ' The Son of God was manifested to destroy 
the works of the devil / ' ' / can do all things through Christ 
which strengtheneth me. ' The law of the Spirit of -life in 
Christ Jesus Jiath made me free from the law of sin and 
d^ath,' By a naked faith in a naked promise I do not mean 
a bare assent that God is faithful, and that such a promise 
in the Book of God may be fulfilled to me: but a bold, 
hearty, steady venturing of soul, body and spirit, upon the 
truth of the promise with an appropriating act, ' It is mine, 
because I am a sinner, and I am determined to believe come 
what will.' 

" Here you must shut the eye of carnal reason and stop 
the ear of the mind to the reasoning of the serpent, whicli 
were you to listen to him would be endless, and wpuld soon 
draw you out of the simple way of faith, by which we are 
both justified and sanctified. You must also remember that 
it is your privilege to go to Christ by such a faith noiv and 
every succeeding moment ; and that you are to bring nothing 
but a careless, distracted, tossed heart, just such a one as 



380 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

you have now. Here lies the grand mistake of many poor, 
miserable, but precious souls. They are afraid to believe, 
lest it should be presumption; because they have not yet 
comfort, joy, love, etc. ; not considering tliat this is to look 
for fruit before the tree is planted. ***** ^q. 
ware then, of looking for any grace previous to your believ- 
ing ; and let this be uppermost in your mind * * * * 
Believe till you are drawn above yourself and earth ; till 
your flaming soul mounts and loses itself in the Sun of 
Righteousness. * * * * ^ passage I have found 
much relief from when my soul has been in the state you 
describe, is Rom. vi. 11, ^Likewise reckon ye also yourselves 
to he dead indeed unto sin^ hut alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord.' This reckoning by faith, I find, is not 
reckoning without one's host, but Christ is always r^ady to 
set his hand to the bill which faith draws." 

" Be it I myself deceive, 
Yet I must, I must 'believe.** 

In all my discourses upon this theme I feel perfectly safe 
in conforming my language and sentiments to* the method of 
interpretation adopted by these eminent men. And you can- 
not but perceive how all this harmonizes ^ith that promise 
of our Lord : " Therefore I say unto you, ichat things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, helieve that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have." Mark xi. 24. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SANC TIFIC ATI ON ENTIRE. ^WHY WITHHELD. 

York, August 30, 1845. 



/{S^^OU vn]l find a reply to your inquiries in the follow- 
^^i>^^ ing extract from my Journal : — 
""^^^^^ York, Aug. dtOth. — Last night I preached upon 

entire sanctification. What a rich theme is Acts xv. 9 ; 
^^ And put no difference between us and them, purifying their 
hearts by faith.'' Proposition — Reasons why some earnest and 
sincere seekers of heart-purity do not obtain it. Sincere seekers 
of it ; persons who have considered well those striking com- 
mands of our Lord, in Mark ix. 43, 48, "7/* thine hand 
offend thee cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, 
than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never 
shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off : it is better 
for thee to enter halt into life, than having, two feet to be cast 
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their 
worm dieth not, and the f re is not quenched. And if thine eye 



382 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

offend thee pluck it out : it is letter for thee to enter into the 
kingdom of God with one eye^ than having two eyes to he cast 
into hell-fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched^ An awful decision ! An awakening intimation ! 
A teiTible argument ! and it was felt by the insincere. It 
is not possible to repeat such a passage slowly, clearly, and 
with proper emphasis, without producing a solemn effect. 

Those sentiments of an old divine, though quaint, did not 
lessen the effect. " Better see thyself in Heaven with one 
eye, than see thyself in heU with both. Better hop into life 
with one leg, than run into eternal death upon both. Better 
without a right hand, to be set with the sheep at God's right 
hand, than having a right baud to be set at God's left hand, 
and after, with both hands bound to be cast into hell-fire." 
Any sinful object or attachment, I suppose, dear and neces- 
sary to us as a foot or hand, or eye, must be severed from 
us if we are to escape hell and enter Heaven. 

Having proved that sincere seekers after purity may do 
all this, yet may remain unpurified, I then gave the reasons 
in this and that particular case ; such as, 1st., Some do not 
seek it distinctly ; — ^that is, as a distinct blessing. They plead 
for it as a deeper work of grace ; something to make them 
feel happier, more religious comfort, etc., etc.- And so 
indistinctness and confusion attend upon then* every effort ; 
and thus onward throughout all their after experience, what- 
ever blessings from above they may receive ; and so also in 
all their future relations of their experience, all is indistinct- 
ness and uncertainty. They did not set their heart on the 
very thing itself — ^purity of heart, and perfect love. They 
prayed and expected and received according to the maxim 



SANCTIFICATION ENTIRE — WHY WITHHELD. 383 

of old Hesiod the poet, " The half is letter than the whole ;" 
and so it was unto them, and thus characterizes their whole 
experience as they proceed. God thinks just the contrary 
of Hesiod's maxim, and treats them accordingly, but often 
Arith repulsion, so that they hardly attain to the half of what 
they seek. Thus it goes on with such, until by a far deeper 
conviction of their want of conformity to God, they are led 
to cry earnestly for all that Chi-ist purchased for them on 
Calvary. Again : 

2. Others do not seek it distinctly by faith. Then con- 
victions may be distinct enough, and deep enough ; but 
without any very distinct notions of what that faith is which 
purifies the heart. Thus all their efforts are like one who 
is beating the air ; or, as Flavel remarks, " are but as so 
many arrows shot at random into the air; they signify 
nothing for want of a fixed and determinate object." Just 
so ! Such an object, or mark for their faith, as Mark xi. 24, 
" Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when 
ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them^ 
Thus, tliey cyj, " Create in me a clean heart, God; and re- 
new a right spirit within me." And then wonder why that is 
not. bestowed which is so in harmony with the will of God. 
VThj should it, and tliey all the while refusing to exercise 
the faith by which it is to be given ? They refuse to believe 
that they do receive, until they feel that they have received. 
Thus they break with Christ in that capital promise in His 
Gospel, and so Christ breaks A\'ith them, and they still 
remain severed from the blessing. They set aside Cln-ist's 
condition, ^^ Believe that ye receive, and ye shall have;'' and 
tlien Christ sets aside their petition. Thus matters go on 



384 GLIMPSES or life in soul saving. 

till they cease seeking the blessing altogether ; or, until they 
are better instructed. 

Again: 3. Others do not understand the nature and 
importance of faith. There was a very good influence while 
I spoke upon the story of the young house-wife, who, in her 
first effort at making bread, omitted to put in the leaven, 
because she understood not its nature and importance. 
Consequently her wonderment and consternation on taking 
the bread out of the oven, to find it so heavy and hard. But 
an older house-keeper coming in, set her right, and pacified 
her towards the miller and flour-dealer, by instructing her 
in the nature and importance of leaven in bread-making ! 
The application was thoroughly understood and felt. 

Well, when they got upon their knees to pray for purity 
of heart, they did not forget the leaven of faith. The 
results were instantaneous and amazing. A great company 
believed and were saved. Bless the Lord, O my soul I 



i<<^ 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GAINING STRENGTH. 

Saturday Afiernoon, August 30. 



mB-^ M UT for a ramble, — gaining strength and elasticity of 
]3^%^ mind and body. How can it otherwise be, sur- 
y^^^ rounded Avith 

" The earth's bright verdure, and the heaven's soft blue." 

And the deep contentment of nature, vocal with the songs 
of happy-hearted birds, and blythe humming bees ; and go 
where one would, " alighting on flowers," and carelessly flit- 
ting butterflies, and the hum of every living thing that loves 
the sun, and has the talent to express its satisfaction. Aye, 
and better than all, within one's breast a peaceful conscience, 
and overhead a smiling heaven, high as the throne of the 
eternal ! "\Miat a blessing is existence with such accompani- 
ments ! "SV'hat an Eden of love and happiness does it fling 
around one ! 

" O what a glory does the world put on 
For liini, that with a fervent heart, goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky, tliat looks 
On duties well-performed, and days well-spent ! " 
17 



386 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Well, I wandered on along the quiet Ouse, — silent and 
gentle river! as I often exclaim, "deep as love," silent, 
but living and moving onward, making itself to be felt, like 
the Christian's peace, by dipping flowers and overhanging 
shrubs. Had it but the clearness to show " the gems be- 
neath the tides," as the poet speaks, if such are there ; and 
if it did but " reflect heaven " upon a wider breast, it might 
more resemble his pretty comparison of 

** The scenery, in its flow, to be 
Like candor, peace, and piety." 

Oh! sentimentalism ! But I am good for little else 
to-day. That thought of one is worth remembering, that 
Jesus is the soul's Sabbath ; and the soul's ocean of blessed- 
ness besides; to which all its motions tend, as the river 
which rests not till it gains the sea, which is its great cen- 
tral attraction ! 

Saturday Night. — ^Much better. The fresh air and its 
accompaniments have done me good. Be not forgetful of 
all these benefits, O my soul ! The manna and the rod 
were both laid up in the Ark of the Covenant. Heb. ix. 4. 
So in the ark of my grateful memory ; but more of the manna 
than the rod, much more. Scores of sinners saved this week, 
and forty-five trophies of entire sanctification. 

Monday Morning, September \st — Hail September! 
Adieu August ! A blessed month hast thou been to 
multitudes in this city. France had once a king who 
was called Augustus, and for no other reason than he was 
born in the month of August. How many heii-s to thrones 
and crowns have been " bom again " in York, during the 
by-gone noble month of August ! 



GAINING STRENGTH. 387 

Weeping again among the people. Wet eyes and soft 
heai'ts. The wells remain open ; the crystal tears flowing. 
The Philistines have not been able to fill these walls with 
earth, and so they continue flowing. A fountain playing in 
the midst of a garden, by the banks of a living stream, as at 
Chatswoi*th yonder, is a pleasant sight. But to behold the 
tear-fountains playing, at the touch of truth, in the garden of 
the church, where the living waters are flowing, pleasanter 
still to Christ, to angels, to my soul, to all who love you. 
Hallelujah. Many saved. 

Hudson, " The Railway King," as he is called, had a 
grand r(?ception in this city the other day ; a triumphal 
entry like that given to a Eoman hero, in days of old. All 
York was in commotion, and multitudes from afar. Heaven, 
and hell, and eternity, and all the grandeur and importance 
of this gi'eat work of God seemed as if given to the winds, 
amidst firing of cannon and ringing of bells, and shoutings 
of the masses : 

" And dissipation's altars blaze, 
And men run mad a thousand ways." 

The Itahans of old used to ring their bells and fire their 
guns during a thunder-storm, and do so yet, perhaps, to 
drown the noise of the thunder, and charm away the fl}ang 
bolts, that people might not be terrified by them. 

This revival has sounded like a great thunder in the ears 
of these York sinners ; and now they seemed as if thinking, 
" Let U3 see whether these joy bells, and hurrahs, and roar 
of artUler}', and ?cenes of merriment, and dissipation shall 
not drown the noise of this revival from the ears of oui* 



388 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

troubled consciences." Aye! we shall see! I thought! 
They cannot afford to keep this stir up long. These bells, 
and cannon, and hurrahs, and merriment, and dissipation 
are but for a day. The thunder-storm of this revival has 
lasted months, and may for long to come. I must own to 
fears, however, that for awhile the effect of these things 
might go nigh to swamp the revival, knowing how well they 
are adapted to grieve the Holy Spirit, harden hearts, and 
deafen, blind, and sear the conscience. 

But Jesus reigns ! Yesterday he set all " to rights 
again," as one expressed it. The truth of God lightened 
and thundered grandly, gloriously, and effectually aS ever. 
Truth, like thunder, grows not hoarse, nor weak-voiced, nor 
" crackt," by the lapses of ages. It vindicates its full claim 
to sublimity and terror, " sounding as if ten thousand brazen 
chariots were rolling at one and the same moment, along the 
floor of heaven," speaking to the understanding and con- 
science, and fears of men : 

" Telling in accents thunder given. 
The majesty of God I" 

Truth, like the Lightning^ is still " the forked weapon 
of the sky,"" — which can scathe, and stiike, and shatter into 
fragments now, as it did three thousand years or more, when 
God, as the Psalmist says, gave up the flocks of the Egyp- 
tians, " to hot thunderbolts f — speaking to the fears of the 
yet unstricken, that their hour is coming ! 

Truth, like the Tempest, grows not old nor feeble, but 
can wrestle with the stoutest sinner, and floor him, as 
the tempest wi'estles -with the giant oak, and with the 



GAINING STRENGTH. 389 

might of a tornado, uproots easily as a tlioustind years ago, 

" The battle-cry of warring winds, Hke 
Armies meet on liigh !" 

The power of God was in my soul, and in the souls of 
my helpers. AN'ords of lire were given to all of us ; they 
Avent forth like balls of lire, quick, and struck here and 
there like shocks of lightning ! O, but the breezes of heaven 
did stir our souls ! and they increased to a tempest ; and the 
people were moved as the trees of the wood. Hallelujah ! 
" The Lord God omnipotent reignetli !" Another name for our 
Almighty Jesus! mighty to save sinners, and Plis people 
from their sins ! 

But, O my Lord ! these effbrts shake this poor mortal 
frame. Let me expect a failing of this strength, as I advance 
in life ; so that I may not be utterly cast down, when I dis- 
cover / am not wTtat I was, — when heart and strength failcth. 
Psalms Ixxi. 9. But O, my gracious Lord, let me not back- 
slide from this thy power in my soul and ministry. Amen. 
****** 

Well, it turns out, that the Spirit gf God, as a "still 
small voice," was present with many a sinner during all the 
late scenes of revelry in the Hudson triumph. 

But yesterday, and last night, the same Spirit was present, 
also, amid all the wild war of truth, and its terrilic and sin- 
ner-awaking elements. It was with sinners, as with Elijah, 
during the Horob storm. '•^ The still small voice,'' \\^(\. more 
power to melt, to move, to control, than tlie mountain-rend- 
ing, rock-br(•akin,L^ cartli-heaviiig, and all-devouring wind. 



390 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

and earthquake, and fire. 1 Kings xix. 11, 12, 13, 14. 
When all come together upon a congregation of sinners and 
believers, the effect is tremendous. We had about forty- 
saved at the close of the prayer meeting. 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ¥^ 

AYell, Hudson has had his triumph, and I have had 
mine ; — for the triumphs of Jesus are my triumphs ! 
"Where are your jewels and your ornaments," said a lady 
to the vi^ife of a great general, in ancient times, to whom she 
was showing her wardrobe. The noble mfe replied : "The 
victories of my husband are my jewels and my ornaments !" 
The victories of my Lord Jesus Christ are mi/ jewels and 
ornaments ! Ilallelujah ! 

Yes ! Hudson has had his triumphal entry into the old 
city of York, and Jesus has given me mine into the spiritual 
Jerusalem, riding on the back of humility ! 

My Lord had one triumph allowed him while the guest 
of earth ; and into an ancient capital also ! But he chose 
to perform it on the back of an ass, and upon a colt, the 
foal of an ass ! What an implied contempt was that upon 
all notions of worldly pomp and triumph ! 

Praise God, O my soul ! The honor that comes from 
above is enduring. That from beneath is transitory ; it has 
been compared to the bubble that gHtters in all the colors 
of the rainbow ; but presently it bursts, even as we view it, 
and is seen no more ! It has been compared, also, to the 
gourd, which extended its cooling shade over the head of a 
Jonah against the scorching heat, but ere tlie next day's sun 
Imd arisen, it had withered away, and left unhappy Jonah 
fainting and wishing to die, and teUing God to his face, "/ 



GAINING STRENGTH. 391 

do ivcll to he angry ^ even unto death." Worldly glory has 
also been compared to the floAver that blooms and breathes 
in the air of moriung, but ere twihght disputes the approach 
of night, its beauty and fragrance are gone ! 

And it has been compared to the splendid hues which 
bedeck the insects "vving, as it flutters in the sunbeam, which 
are easily bnished off, and which disappear upon the with- 
drawal of the uncertain beam. But what Lord Bacon said 
of piety, virtue, and honesty, may be said of the honor and 
happiness of bringing sinners to God : it is the SM^eetest life, 
the most enduring of all honor, it accompanies the faithful 
servant of God through life, nor quits him when he dies ! 




CHAPTER XV. 

ANONYMOUS AND ANNOYING LETTEKS. 

Tuesday Morning, Septemher 2. 
ATAN would try the metal of mj armor, arid the 
nature of my glory ; whether it is the real Christian 
armor of sixth of Ephesians, or defective ; and 
whether it is the glory of which St. Paul speaks, " God 
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
world.'' — ^Aye, or whether it is glorying in men, or success, 
or self! 

Anonymous letters ; Satan sends his. messages by this 
mail, and letters from quarters unexpected, where Satan 
shows his hand in the real signature. A poet says, letters 
were invented to aid the wretched. Alas ! but for the grace 
of Christ some letters would make one wretched, or give one 
the frets ! 

What a thing is policy, in Church as well as State. 
Policy ! Expediency ! Plow much of these originate the 
striking and mysterious phenomena, corruscating so fre- 



ANONYMOUS AND ANNOYING LETTERS. 393 

quently over the Church of God from her human authorities. 
Nor would some men ever rise in either Church or State 
Avitliout discounting largely to policy or expediency ; and 
that too \\'ithout the" least ill-A\nll towards the subject 
standing in their way. To be aware of this so as to make 
allowance for the lee-way made by persons that would be 
other^\'ise friends gives charity freer air and love larger 
elbow-room ! Sic vita ! aye ! indeed, such is life ! — " such the 
stuff the world is made of ;" — even good men, so would charity 
say, beyond the hills yonder, who see not and will not see the 
amazing manifestation of God's power, as here ; acting as if 
they would prefer to see thousands constantly exposed to the 
damnation of hell, rather than see the same power mani- 
fested there. Great God ! what a creature is man ! The 
old poet might well exclaim ! — 

" Lord, what a nothing is this little span, 
Which we call man ! 
When not himself he's mad, when most himself, he's worse ! " 

Another pemark of one created a smile, solemn, if not 
sorrowful as was my heart, that it w^as not till the crab had 
bitten the heel of Hercules that the crab was placed among 
the constellations ; and, besides, that I should always be 
aware of one fact, that the motion of sea-crabs, ever after 
that event, have been singularly contrary ! — as if pretending 
to go in one direction, while you perceive they arc going 
directly in another ; that it is the claws that deceive one so ; 
the heart of the crab is set to its point, and it clenches its 
prey before it is aware ! Aye ! aye ! I exclaim, give over, 
for my heart is not in the laughing mood ! Besides, there is 
17* 



394 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

tartness in the figure ; and that is not the sweetness of the 
humble, gentle, patient, himb-like mind that was in Christ, 
my Lord. " Yes ; but can you forget that Jesus looked 
around, being grieved for the hardness of their heart." Aye ! 
true ; but I am but a poor sinner saved by grace, and fallible, 
and this " being grieved " might go too far, and leave me 
bereaved of my unction, and that would be a calamity to me 
and to others. Ah, no — 

"Be mine the will that conquers pain, 
The heart of rock, the nerves of steel." 

Nay, nay ! Mi\ German poet ! That is altogether too 
stoical for me ! it is going to tlie other extreme. Grace does 
not petrify the feelings thus. And if it did it would not so 
exalt the soul, I think, as it does to feel, look unto Jesus and 
forgive. Did not Jesus suffer and learn obedience from the 
things that He suffered ? Heb. v. 8. And does not St. Paul 
hint that we must be partakers of His sufferings, if we would 
be partakers of His consolation ? 2 Cor. i. 7. We are to feel 
the one as sensibly as the other, I suppose. Pagan stoicism, 
and Christian fortitude and patience greatly differ. 

Take heart, my soul ! Beware of tartness and severity. 
These, no more than wrath work the righteousness of God, 
nor thy good. Think of that lesson in old Herbert, which 
once was of service to thee : 

"Fix thy behavior low ; thy projects high ; 
So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be. 
Sinli not in spirit, who aimeth at the sky 
Shoots iiigher much, than he who means a tree. 



ANONYMOUS AND ANNOYING LETTERS. 395 

A grain of glory mixed with humbleness, 
Cures b.)th a fever and letharginess. 
♦ * * * * * 

Calmness is an advantage. He that lets 
Another chafe, may warm him at his fire." 

. That was a good idea of one, centuries ago, that the fire 
in the flint lies there warm and contented alone, but it 
requires a knock to make it shine out visibly. Well, well, 
that is true ; and, if so be it is Gospel fire, then the more 
knocks the better, perhaps. But, if " strange fire," angry- 
fire, his application and knocks are to be deprecated. John 
the Baptist both shined and burned, John v. 35, but he was 
no volcano ! 

This last knock may be only one of Satan's compliments. 
I must not return the knock against his instrument, " Shimei's 
hand and Shimei's tongue," but redouble my knocks against 
the devil and all his works. Amen ! I must not lose my 
unction, or I shall be knocking with straws against all the 
power of the enemy. 

* m * * * * 

Walked out along the banks of the Ouse, overshadowed 
with pine trees, a sweet retreat ; but a loneliness upon my 
spirits. Went from thought to thought like that bee the 
other day from flower to flower, as if disappointed of honey ; 
but it was not discouraged but resolved to " try again." At 
leugth it found a flower-cup well stored with nectar.- There^ 
it revelled in sweets and winged away at length to the hive, 
evidently laden, legs and thighs, if not >vings, with the pre- 
cious material wanted in the liivc. Well, it was tlius with 
mc until I alighted on a sweet thought which was like 



396 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

a honey-flower. Till then sadness sat heavy upon me, as 
Saul's ai-mor upon David. O, give me my sling and my 
stone, and a glad heart and free. Dejection's sackcloth is an 
unbecoming livery for the court of Heaven. I tried to put 
it off ; hard to get quit of it, as the beggar to rid himself of 
his rags, until something better falls in his way. The Dutch 
poet speaks weU, where he says : 

" Sorrow is dreary, 
Sorrow and gloom outweary the weary ! " 

But "there I was met by one, who Himself had been 
wounded by the archers." And with that gentle force, of 
which the poet speaks, He solicited the darts, and healed, and 
bade me live ! Thence wandering onward, indulging iu 
many thoughts of men and things, and in the sweet com- 
panionship of Jesus, the sinner's friend and mine, my soul, 
like the bee, found the best flower in all the garden of the 
Lord — " The Rose of Sharon ! " Beautiful and truly fragrant 
and lovely ; a honey-flower, indeed, to my wearied spirit and 
tired heart ! 

O but there are many pleasant things in this world, and 
sweet and beautiful things, delicious things, and things 
melodious ; this for the eyes, that for the ears, and the other 
for the taste and the nerves. But Jesus is the most pleasant, 
sweet, beautiful, delicious, melodious, to my soul, of all else 
beneath the sun ! To my hungry soul He is manna ; and rest 
to my weary spirit. His dear name is surely music to my 
ear, is honey to my mouth, and a festival to my heart. He 
is my all and all ; the life of my soul, as the soul is the life 
of my body. He is my soul's paradise. And yet. for all 



ANONYMOUS AND ANNOYING LETTERS. 397 

this, my soul is in the lowest valley of humiliation. My path 
to Heaven runs much of the way through this valley. It is 
well. It is the safest for me ; and so sheltered. The heights 
are dangerous, and windy. Those who live much up there, 

" Feel those tempests wliicli fly over ditches! '' 

I feel better. Such visitation from above, leave a sweet 
tincture of holiness in the heart, and fortify it against future 
assaults. It is thus one is enabled to view men calmly and 
rightly ; and -with a forgiving, lo\ing heart to think -with him 
who said, — 

" The best of meE, turn but thy hand 
For one poor minute, stumble at a pin! " 

Wednesday Morning, Sept. 3c?. — The word of the Lord 
was as a flame last night, and the people stubble. Surely 
the word is stiU, as of old, fire, and as a hammer to break the 
rocks in pieces ! Jeremiah xxiii. 29. 

Attended a Sabbath-school tea-meeting, and gave a short 
address. That idea, " FooHshness is bound up in the heart 
of a cliild," says Solomon : yet is it not equally true that the 
stamina of his nature is there also ? Education develops and 
controls it. But it must be a thoroughly religious education, 
that which converts the soul, else that stamina, like Judas, 
may become as the nature of a very devil. There must be 
the education of tlie heart, as well as of the head. Welling- 
ton contended for both, — the union of rehgious instruction 
and intellectual .attainments. "If you do not teach them 
religion, as well as science, you will only educate so many 
devil.s," was one of his observations. " Give children a J'>ible, 
and a calling, and (iod be with them," said a good man. Amen. 




CHAPTEE XVI. 

THE REVIVAL IN YORK NOTICED. 

I HE work advanced with great power in York 
during the months of July and August A cor- 
respondent of one of the London papers observed : — 
" The Rev. J. Caughey in York. — ^The blessed revival 
of religion which has been spreading here for several weeks 
past, has excited almost universal interest and attention ; 
and I believe it has not yet, by far, reached its chmax. It 
is one of the most lovely sights imaginable, after rising at an 
early hour on the sacred Sabbath morning, to take a tour 
upon the public roads leading to this ancient city, and behold 
innumerable crowds of villagers, from a distance of ten or 
twenty miles, either in vehicles of various descriptions, from 
the massive wagon to the genteel phaeton, or upon foot, all 
actuated by the laudable purpose of being present, at an 
early hour, in the Sanctuaiy of the Most High, to listen to 
the preaching of the everlasting gospel of the blessed God, 
and to behold the soul-inspiring, heaven-enrapturing displays 
of the Divine mercy and power, in the salvation of immortal 



THE REVIVAL IN YORK — NOTICED. 399 

souls, as is "witnessed, from day to day, and Sabbath after 
Sabbath, in the Centenary Chapel, which is excessively filled 
with attentive and sincere worshipers. And it is the fervent 
pra}er of the Church militant, and, we beheve, the all- 
absorbing desire of the Church triumphant, that this glorious 
work should spread wide as the world, and penetrate deep 
as sin, so that every human being should be brought under 
its all-subduing and saving influence ; that our sin-stricken 
earth may again be converted into a paradise, where nothing 
shall be heard but the sounds of blessing and praise to the 
Triune God for ever and ever. Amen." 




CHAPTER XVII. 



'/-^^^^^^ /Sep^e^er 4:th. 

'HAT "Law Sermon," of which I wrote you a long 
dreary account, seemed to have killed everything 
dead. But it was death before life; the bitter 
before the sweet ; the worst before the best. That is God's 
order ! but Satan's order is just the contrary, as I remarked 
at that time. For, you m^ remembei^ although my faith 
was sorely tried, it was not dead ; stirring proofs thereof in 
after works ! 

It is thus our gracious God delights agreeably to disap- 
point the fears of His people. " / tvas alive without the laiv, 
once,'^ says Paul, '■''but when the commandment came, sin 
revived, and I died." But he revived again under " the law 
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." And who was more full 
of Hfe and peace and joy than that same Paul, when fully 
possessed of the Gospel salvation ! 

It was so with these York sinners, in a manner I never 
saw before. The Law of God knocked them down, like so 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 401 

many oxen under the blow of the butcher. The law, with 
regard to some, was a thorough exorcist ! It said to the 
"Antinomian devil," as Jesus to the unclean spirit of old, 
Mark ix. 25, 2G, '-^Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, 
come out of Mm, and enter no more into him ; and the spirit 
cried and rent him sore, and came out of him : and he ivas as 
one dead; insomuch that many said He is dead.'' How mys- 
terious such possessions ! But such mysteries in diabolical 
power, in one form or other, have not ceased. 

But Jesus reigns, head of the church, He even makes 
good His promise to His ministers, " Lo I am with you, even 
unto the end of the world.'' And so also there is a fulfillment 
of that promise, " Where two or three are gathered together in 
my name, there am I in the midst." Thus, as He took the 
rescued and apparently dead demoniac by the hand, and 
raised him up a living man, so did He to many a prostrate 
sinner, the last few weeks. 

It sometimes happens in a seaport, that vessels are wind- 
bound, and a great gathering of them linger in port. Now 
and then, after Herculean toil, one gets out to sea ; but the 
rest wait for a fair wind, and the serving of the tide. At 
length the wind "chops round" fair, and the tide serves. 
Then what a bustle, as one ship after another is warped out, 
till the bay is full of them ; each unfurling and spreading 
all sail to the A^-incl, and off to tlie land beyond the seas. 

Well, we were " \\dnd-bound " for a little after that law 
sermon, and many a poor sinner, with ourselves, had a hard 
time of it. But, at length the spiritual wind chopped round 
from Sinai, and blew from Calvary ! That is the " true 
trade-wind" for tlic lioavcnly port ; and tlic spring-tide of 



402 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

salvation set in at the same time, and then there was a cry 
in the ships! Isaiah xliii. 14. And shouts of glory ! Score 
after score were warped out of the dry docks, and spreading 
the sails of their affections to the heavenly gale, with songs 
of praise and shouts of jo}^, they sailed off for the land of 
light and glory ! The wind still blows from Calvary ; and 
there is a " stiff breeze," as the sailors say ; and scores and 
scores are " clearing " constantly for the port of Heaven ! 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

Matters wear a different aspect now than when I wrote 
you an account of " the law occasion ! " The Psalmist 
speaks of the all-creating spirit of God, and of the renewing 
of the face of the earth in the spring. Psalms civ. 30. By 
that same spirit he has renewed the face of the moral world 
around us here. Vast numbers who went away that night, 
condemned to death, and inclined to appeal, as the citizen 
of old, from the decision of Philip of Macedon, thought bet- 
ter of the matter, and resolved to appeal to " the throne of 
Grace," instead of the throne of Justice. Cries for mercy 
ascended soon, and not in vain. Their trembling consciences 
could not stand before the flying fiery serpents of the law. 
But they looked unto Jesus, and theii* guilt could not stand 
before the efficacy of the blood of Christ. So sure as hun- 
dreds of the serpent-bitten Israelites were healed by looking 
at the brazen serpent erected by Moses in the wilderness ; so 
sure have hundreds of the sin-bitten and law-bitten sinners 
of York been healed by looking unto Jesus ! 

Adam violated the law of Eden, partook of the forbid- 
den fruit, and felt the sickness unto death. Eden had 
flowers, and plants, and herbs in great abundance ; but to 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 403 

what purpose ? Not one of them all possessed the rare vir- 
tue to cure that disease. "Wliere snakes abound, the snake- 
plant abounds also, it is said, which neutralizes or expels 
the poison from a snake-bite. But, alas ! there grew not in 
all Eden, an herb or plant that could neutralize the poison 
of the old sei*pent, which is ^Hhe devil and Satan." Rev. 
xii. 9. It is in the Gospel garden alone, where grows the 
famous ^^ plant of renown,'' as Ezekiel names it; to which 
our poor serpent-bitten race might run and eat, and live for 
ever. To tliis, multitudes here have had recourse. They 
approached, all paleness, sickness, and death; they went 
away all health, life, and joy ! The law-wounds and law- 
sickness made Jesus desirable and precious. How Kttle 
good results from offering him to unawakened and un- 
wounded sinners. It seems only, as it were, to increase 
their guilt, without their feeling it. But when sinners are 
prepared to appreciate him, that is, when the law of God 
lias stricken them through and through, with a sense of 
guilt, then is Jesus precious indeed ! Then is He pardon to 
the guilty ; medicine for the sick ; water for the thirsty ; 
v,'ine for the desponding ; bread for the hungry ; a port for 
the storm-tossed ; a shelter for the ship-wrecked, whom the 
waves of distress have dashed upon the shores of desolation. 
He is clothing for the naked, restoring salve to the blind, 
life for the dead, and rest for the wearied in spirit. Thus 
has He been to the ghastly squadrons of distress and despair, 
as we have witnessed here froin night to night. 

The disconsolate have found in Him a balm for every 
woe and wound. The poor sinner, whom the law has 
entirely banki*uptcd, holding Him still by the throat, saying, 



404 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" Pay ivhat thou owest,'' and he in Ms agony replying, "Have 
patience with me, and I will pay thee all." Poor fellow ! 
he might as well have attempted to pay the national debt of 
England ! But Avhen he looked for nothing but to be car- 
ried away into the prison of Hell, he found in Jesus a bails 
man, and an introduction to a bank of grace, which 
redeemed and cleared him at once, from all his liabilities. 
And how he did shout then ! 

The hitherto unhappy and miserable are telling to all 
around how that they find Jesus a siveet without a hitter ; 
" a whole ocean of sweetness," said one, " without a drop of 
gall." "An unchangeable friend," says another. "A rose 
Avithout a thorn," adds a third. "A Hly without a nettle," 
says a fourth, " and all the more fragrant, the opinion of 
Pliny to the contrary notwithstanding : for he affirmed that 
the lily was all the more fragrant for growing beside the 
nettle ; but the Rose of Sharon needs no nettle to render it 
fragrant to my soul." It is well for these now, that nettles 
of discomfort do not spring around their path. They will 
spring up by and by, and soon enough. 

But I do love to hear those new converts talk of Jesus. 
O, it would do your heart good ! I was reminded of them 
in my morning lesson to-day, in private, Luke vii. 47, " Her 
sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much; hut to 
whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little^ She had just 
washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, and wiped them with 
the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and sprinkled them 
\N\\h precious halm, till all the room was filled with the fra- 
grance. As to Simon, the Pharisee, who noticed the busy 
sinner, he could neither understand her, nor why Jesus 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 



405 



allowed such an one to touch him. But Jesus understood 
her, first made his o"uti apology, and then hers, and to the 
amaze of Simon and other guests, said to the weeping being 
at his feet, ^'' Thy sins are forgiven ; thy faith hath made thee 
whole, go in peace.'' O, how much of this is going on among 
us here ! 

This is the time to learn the value and glory of the Gos- 
pel ; the healing, saving efficacy of that Name that is above 
every name. Our " fighting men " have realized more than 
ever, that Jesus is a panolply of strength. My own soul has 
found him to be like " the tower of David, whereon their 
hung a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men,'' Cant. 
iv. 4 ; all glorious defences against all the power of the 
enemy, when battling for souls. He is my high tower, my 
love, my life, my all in all. But he is no respecter of 
persons ; for he is the same to the needy multitude who 
crowd the temple of our God. 

Our excellent secretaiy has furnished me with the fol- 
lowing table, showing the progi'ess of the work up to 
August 3 : 



From June J 5 to 22., 

"- 22 10 29, 

" " 29 to July 6, .. 
" July 6 to 13, 

" 13 to 20, 

" " 20 to 27, 

" " 27 to August 3, 



Justified 

from the 

World. 



32 
46 

60 
48 
41 
47 
43 

317 



I Justified 
jl'rom Wes- 
ileyan and 

other 
Churches. 



46 
48 
55 
25 
24 
20 



226 



Sanctified. 



50 
75 
89 
56 
53 
53 
43 

419 



TotaL 



128 
169 
204 
129 
118 
120 
94 

962 



406 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

This table ends near the time of "the Law Seimon," 
when heavier artilleiy had to be brought to play upon the 
ungodly. The secretary reports that since then, up to the 
4th instant (September), there have been three hundred and 
sixteen persons converted from the world ; ninety nine mem- 
bers of "Wesleyan and other churches converted, and one 
hundred and sixty-seven persons sanctified ; making a total 
for the month of five hundred and eighty-two. Unite these 
with the table already given, and you wiU perceive tliat we 
have had six hundred and thirty-three converted from the 
world, and three hundred and twenty-five converted from 
Wesleyan and other churches, and five hundred and eighty- 
six sanctified ; making a total of the justified and sanctified 
of- fifteen hundred and forty-four, or thereabouts, since the 
middle of last June ! To God alone, Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, be all the glory. Amen. 

The above is a great work for so short a period. But, 
still, how far short of the three thousand souls converted in 
one day, under one sermon of Peter, standing in one of the 
streets of Jerusalem ! We are yet far from such a Penticos- 
tal success ; the remembrance of which should and does 
humble us. But blessed be God, we are expecting a larger 
eflfusion of the Holy Ghost. 

In the meantime, no pains are being spared in ascertain- 
ing the state of grace in which the above persons continue 
to stand ; the reality of the work of God in their souls, so 
far as man can judge. Their names and places of residence 
have been carefully registered, and reported weekly to the 
Leader's Meeting, over which the superintendent minister 
presides, accompanied by his worthy colleagues. There the 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 407 

list is examined, and action taken, as to the best means of 
looking after these late accessions to the classes. They set 
out, from the first, to mark closely this work of God ; its 
nature, and extent, and reahty ; and to use all possible 
endeavors to secure to the church a permanent benefit, with 
a single eye to the glory of its Head. Thus, as an old wi'iter 
says, " They that mark particular providences, shall always 
have particular proi-idences to mark ;" so it is with these 
excellent brethren. They have marked, with grateful and 
adoring hearts, this work of the Ploly Spirit, and He on 
His part, is giving them glorious tilings to mark, surely ! 

Each leader, in city and country, is furnished weekly 
A\'ith a list of persons appointed to his class from the world, 
and members of his class, who have been justified, reclaimed 
from a backsUden state, or sanctified ; at the top of which 
list is the following note : 

" Dear Brother : — We have much pleasure in handing 
to you (as annexed) the names of parties to whom our 
special services have been rendered a blessing, and who 
intend to place themselves, or are already, under your care 
as leader. "VVe affectionately commend them to your pray- 
erful attention, and shall be glad if you will return an answer 
to us, in writing, to the accompanying questions. We remain, 
dear brother, yours most truly. 

Signed by the secretaries who keep the register. 

" Questions : 

"Z>o these persons retain the blessings they have obtained'^ 
" Have those met with you that promised to do so ?" 

This note, with the Hst of names thereon, is usually 



408 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

returned to the secretaries, with " yes " or " no " appended 
to eacli name, in accordance with the above questions and 
facts of character. These return notes are transferred to 
the Leader's Meeting, and considered. 

This, you will perceive, requires much labor and pains- 
taking. But it is just for the want of some such regular 
system as this which causes such losses to the Church after 
some great revivals. The new converts are not properly 
cared for and looked after, and so many fall away. 

It is only when leaders conscientiously do their duty, 
feeling their responsibility and the value of souls, that they 
are thus willing to devote themselves thoroughly to such a 
service. But if otherwise, the Church of God is betrayed, 
and the revival exposed to unmerited disgrace. 

Some of the answers to these notes are deeply interesting. 
A leader, acquainted with the character of this and that 
person on his list, gives a Httle sketch of the remarkable 
facts in their cases. Instance the following, a few days since, 
^vith a few verbal alterations : 

" The case of Mr. P. is extraordinary indeed. Until 
lately he has been a great sinner. Plearing of the gi^eat work 
in York he proposed to me to go into the city with him to see 
what it was all about. * Friday,' said he, ' Friday ; let's go 
on Friday.* I told him that night would suit me, as the ser- 
mon would be on sanctification ; but that some other night in 
the week Avould give him a better chance to judge of matters. 
Another night was fixed upon, and accordingly we went. On 
our way I conversed a little with him, in which I told him 
it was but lately I had found peace with God, through faith 
in Christ. It was evident to me that the Spirit of God was 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. ^ 409 

predisposing his mind, though Satan also was busy. How- 
ever, I could learn nothing satisfactory. But my cry went 
up to God for him, but in heaviness, seeing the case was a 
hard one. 

" We went to the Centenary Chapel, and heard Mr. 
Caughey on Gen. vi. 3 : * And the Lord said, my Spirit shall 
not always strive with man.' As tlie sermon progressed, Mr. 
P. sighed deeply, ' Then I am ftndonc.' After a little he 
sighed again, and muttered, ^ I have quenched the Spirit, I 
am undone ; — there is no mercy for me — ^my damnation is 
sure.' He groaned deeply, and with a hard heart, as he 
afterwards told me. 

" ]Mr. C. cried out suddenly, and with a loud voice, * Sud- 
den destruction, O sinner ! Look out for that, if thou hast 
sinned away thy day of grace ! — a certain fearful-looking for 
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour thee as 
an adversary of the Lord's Christ ; — sudden death is apt to 
follow this sort of quenching the Spirit ; the one calamity 
quickly follows the other.' This came like a thunderbolt to 
Mr. P., and he exclaimed to himself, * I am afraid to go home. 
What is to become of me?' But the voice of the preacher 
changed in its tones into tender expostulations. * There sits 
one among this multitude who begins to fear God. He fears 
also he has incurred the double calamity ; — that he has 
quenched the Spirit, — provoked him to cease striving, and to 
give him over ; — and that the death-stroke hovers over his 
guilty and forfeited life. The man thinks that the Spirit of 
God has forsaken him, taken His everlasting flight ; that he is 
a lost man. It is not so. The Holy Si)irit is still with that 
man, wrestling with his thoughts, his hopes, his fears, his 
18 



410 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

depravities. He is now pLling death-sentences on his heart, 
and rousing his conscience once more to send the alarm in 
trumpet- tones through his spirit. Wliy all this, if there is no 
mercy ? It proves the contrary. Hear me, O thou miserable 
soul, it is the Holy Spirit of God that would lead thee to 
Christ, if thou wilt only permit.' Hope sprang up in his 
mind, dashed with fear and despair. 

" The sermon closed. Mr. P. fell down upon his knees in 
the pew. I urged and re-urged he should go forward for 
prayer. *No,' was his stern reply, *I am hardened, there 
is no use.' But his sobs and sighs told of a fearful struggle 
going on within. Satan appeared to be holding him with 
a strong hand. ^ Eesist the devil and he will flee from you,' 
I said. * Come ! stretch out the withered hand ! Jesus is 
near you to help. Arise and con^e away.' He sobbed out, 
* With His help I will,' and in a moment or two he was 
prostrated among the mourners, and not in vain, for he found 
mercy. 

" On our way home he ripped open his past life. And what 
a life ! And yet, through his career of wickedness, and while 
the very pest of his neighborhood, the Spirit of God had been 
striving with him ; he, all the while taking deeper plunges in 
sin to get rid of it. 

" He beheves ttie last call from Heaven reached him 
through Mr. C. All is well now. His fine farm of one 
hundred and fifty acres is smiling under the culture of a child 
of God. His wife, an heir of Heaven also, says, " All things 
have become new,'' m their now happy abode. His seven 
children have now the example of a praying father. He 
trembles in view of the possibihty of falling away. Tell Mr. 



LIFE FROM THE DEAD. 411 

Caughey we intend to call upon him, when Mr. P. wiU tell 
him all his mind. Yours truly, C. H." 

Blessed be God ! " Is not this a brand plucked out of the 
fire.'* I remember that night very well. Many thought the 
discourse " a Tvdld, irregular, incoherent, disorderly aiFau* ; 
without taste, system, or grace." Yes ! but it was fuU of the 
arrows of the Almighty, which penetrated as the lightnings 
of the storm. It is A^dth such pulpit-storms as with decided 
storms in the natural world : Providence does not seem care- 
ful at all to please people's tastes and habits ; down it comes, 
hke it or dislike it, as you please, but down it comes and we 
must bear it were it as bad as one once muttered : " Since I 
was man, such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
such groans of roaring winds and rain I never remember to 
have heard." Aye ! and though thousands muttered and 
protested, still down came the storm, howling, raging and 
careering onward in the fulfillment of the dread mission of 
Him by whom it was commissioned and sent forth on its 
errand of mercy or of judgment. 

Men bear such storms with considerable patience and 
fortitude. They bow before that great and invisible and 
dreadful Being, who sits enthroned behind these terrible ele- 
ments, giving them all their power. God is often equally 
present in the pulpit-storm when the elements are truth, and 
terrible as truth can make them ! But man is seen ; and the 
carnal mind takes up arms against the annoyance. Many do 
not, will not understand the Divine economy in the adminis- 
trations of the Spirit. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

September 5th. 
I HE wind still blows from Cavalry. The effects are 
seen all around us. Scores and scores more, 
" clearing " from the shores of sin, for the port of 
Heaven. The work advances in majesty and power. " Tlie 
heavens are big with rain." Clouds of mercy overspread 
the city. Truth, like streaming lightning and rolling thunder, 
fills all the spiritual sky. The teeming shower descends. 
The fires and thunders of Sinai, and sounds of trumpets, and 
ui^earthly voices of tenor and of law, have rendered this 
Gospel phenomena, doubly sweet and agreeable. Hallelujah. 
This is the day of salvation ! This is the acceptable time. The 
people seem to know the time of their visitation. But many 
do not ; yet it is the time of their visitation ; even for th6 
present generation of sinners in this city. These days of 
Gospel power, one calls " The golden spots of time'' Aye ! 
and as one piece of gold contains many pieces of silver, 
when "changed," so these golden spots, these rich seasons 
of grace, comprise many rich and choice blessings, when 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 413 

"cashed," or " changed" (to use a commercial term), by an 
ever-wakeful Providence. 

Sinners " stand much in their own light," for both worlds, 
when careless of their improvement. The neglect of them 
is often the cause of compUcated miseries. 

Saturday Morning. — Hard fighting in the past ; easy- 
preaching now ; — instance that occasion in New Street 
Chapel ; — ^felt I was accompUshing nothing, but left 

"To trace right courses for the stubborn blind, 
And prophesy to ears that will not hear," 

and so went at them with the broad axe of truth, until they 
felt they had need of every drop of blood that fell from the 
wounds of Jesus on the cross, to cleanse, to close, or to heal 
their wounded spirits ! Now all is so easy, usually, and suc- 
cessions of victories so complete ! Have labored this week 
■with great delight and holy joy. This renders the service 
somewhat angelical. I was enabled to preach the word with 
a sweet freedom and pleasantness of disposition ; which, 
according to good Herbert, the old poet, is a great key to do 
good, as it opens the hearts of men the soonest. Instruction, 
he says, seasoned Tvith pleasantness, enters soonest into the 
heart, and roots the deeper ; adding, that men shun the com- 
pany of perpetual severity. Very good, Mr. Herbert, and 
yet, we must not be all sweet-meats and milk and honey 
with our hearers! Pleasantness, as you remark, is good 
seasoning ; but the principal material must be something 
more weighty and substantial ; must preponderate in quan- 
tity. There are seasons when the seasoning is like breaking 
pleasantries with one under sentence of death. If sinners 



414 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

are to be awakened, converted and saved, the preaching 
must be severely searching^^ and terribly alarming. The 
Protestant pulpits of England have not a superfluity of such 
preachers, or preaching. But it must be done by somebody, 
or simiers will perish. However, he who does this work as 
he ought will have his reward in an abundance of seals to 
his ministry, and souls for his hire. 

The work of holiness advanced last night in power. 
That is a glorious text. Acts xv. 9, " Purifying their hearts 
by faith.'' It never wears out. The people saw clearly the 
way of faith, and perhaps about twenty-five received the 
blessing of full salvation. 

The importance of faith, in order to purity, can hardly 
be overrated. It is like the mainspring of a watch, it sets 
all ar-going, when once the soul is wound up to conviction 
and decision. When once the justified soul is resolved, by 
the grace of God, to have the blessing, and the gentlest touch 
of the Spirit is given, then faith puts the soul in motion, and 
believing, fills the heart with purity and love. 

This believing is in accordance with Mark xi. 24, ^''Be- 
lieve that ye receive and ye shall have ; " and is as necessary to 
convey the blessing of full salvation to the soul, as the tele- 
graphic wire to convey the electricity that carries the mes 
sage in an instant from afar ; as necessary as the atmosphere 
that conveys the sunshine to the bosom of the wailing and 
needy earth ; as necessary as the atmosphere to convey 
sounds to the ear. "Who but a fool would expect a mes- 
sage by electricity when the wire is down? or sunshine 
or sounds " independent of the atmosphere ? Aye ! but there 
are many such in experimental theology, who expect 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 415 

purity of heart and perfect love, without the medium of 
belic^■illg ! 

These simple illustrations are effective mediums in con- 
veying truth to the mind. They simplify the way of faith, 
and give the sincere soul a quick perception of God's method 
of purifying the heart ; especially if the preacher is not 
theoiizing, but urging the people to believe now. 

People soon see and feel the difference between what is 
mere theory, and that wliich is intensely practical, and ex- 
perimental. Guard against the former, O my soul, and be 
intensely alive to the importance of the latter. A revival 
such as this keeps me grandly practical and experimental. 
So should it be ; so may it ever be. And rather than have 
it otherAvise, better plunge into the solitudes of a forest, and 
there abide 'v\ith God, until the soul is energized and inspired 
by Heaven to have it so, in the face of men and devils. Amen. 

Sept. 8, {Monday.) — Good success last week ; about 
seventy-six found mercy, and fifty-eight purity. Yesterday, 
the glory of our God filled his temple, and thirty were saved. 
]My soul is in good health, and humble ; yet very weak before 
the Lord, but bold and courageous before sinful men. Nor 
is this hypocrisy, showing what I do not feel ; for I feel the 
one state sensibly as the other, each in its season. Weak, 
humble, low as dust and ashes can be before the Lord, in 
secret; strong, bold, daring, feet upon earth, head toward 
heaven, a Uons heart to fly on the prey, in public before the 
people. 

My health is not' worse, but better rather. The weather 
is fine, and the air soft, pure and delicious. My walks on 
the banks of the Ouse, Ijeforc breakfast refreshing: every 



416 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

thing in sweet repose. That was a pretty remark of one, 
that light pulls off the veil, draws aside the curtains of the 
night, and makes every thing appear in fresh colors. 

English scenery has a charm peculiar to itself. There is 
little indeed of the picturesque about York, it is too flat for 
that, unless when viewed from the tower of the Old Minster. 
Then, indeed, one sees Cowper's spacious map, but far beyond, 

" Of hill and valley interposed between. 
The Ouse dividing the well-watered land, 
Now glitters in the sun, and now retires, 
As bashful, yet impatient to be seen." 

But there is much rural beauty, all around, and deep 
quiet. But alas for the poor fish ! I thought, for there goes 
a fisher, as if he would illustrate Armstrong's picture, — 

" Tracing with patient step the fairy banks, 
With the well imitated fly to hook 
The eager trout, and with the slender line 
And yielding rod, solicit to the shore 
The struggling, panting prey, while vernal clouds 
And tepid gales obscur'd the ruffled pools. 
And from the deeps call'd forth the wanton swarms." 

The net seems less cruel than the hook. It was the nets 
Jesus ordered to be let down for a draught, and not lines and 
hooks. Perhaps they had none on board. The process 
would have been too tedious for a miracle ; besides Peter 
would have been down upon his knees before he had hauled 
out fifty, with the exclamation, ^'- Depart from me; for I am 
a sinful man, Lord" Luke v. 8. 

However, I suppose it would hardly do to argue against 
hooks with these Ouse fishermen, as they would remind me. 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 417 

true enough, that Jesus himself sent Peter a fishing with 
hook and hne, saying, " Go thou to the sea, and cast a liook, 
and take up the fish that first cometh up ; and when thou 
ha^ opened his mouth, thou shalt find apiece of money ; that 
take, and give unto them, for me and thee^' Math. xvii. 27. 
A sore trial that for Peter's faith. I'll venture to say he had 
many sad unbelieving thoughts on his way to the sea ! — such 
as, " My Master is badly off, when he has to send me on an 
errand like this, to get a httle cash to pay his tribute money 
and mine ! And I am as hard up as himself. Had I kept 
to my nets, I might have had enough and to spare. It is 
strange that he who could raise the dead, and put eyes in the 
head of the blind, and stilled the tempest, and sent a tide of 
pure blood through the arteries and veins of the leper, cannot 
call forth silver and gold into the pockets of his disciples. 
But there are better days a coming, I hope. Money is hard 
to be come at by everybody, I suppose. And now I am 
going to the sea to fish, — for what? To catch a fish with 
money in its mouth. If I catch a fish it is well, but to catch 
one with money in its mouth, the thing has never been heard 
of on the shores of the Sea of Tiberius ! However, there is 
no help else, so I shall do as bidden. He is a good servant 
that does what he is bidden." Arriving at the sea, in went 
the hook and line. Was his faith tried for a while, till he 
had as much doubt of catching a fish as he had of taking 
one \vith money in its mouth? 

But tlie hook was in the sea ; and first a nibble, and then 

a positive Ijite, and a jerk ; " caught, surely ! — a fish at any 

rate, whatever becomes of the money ! Aye ! here is the 

money ! All is right, as He said ! " I should hke to have 

18* 



418 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

seen Peter on his return ! I think I see hira with an elastic 
step and a sparkling eye, and with a faith as strong that if 
Jesus had sent him back, with the same hook and line to 
fish for a whale, he would have gone without a doubt' of 
success ! 

How Peter must have chided himself, if he did indulge 
in the despondency and unbelief I have surmised. Remem- 
bering, perhaps, the ^^ great multitude of fishes^'' in that mirac- 
ulous draught that first introduced him to Jesus ! — the 
prelude to his great commission to go forth and catch men ; 
or the walk he once had with Jesus on the waves. Math, 
xiv. 28. And how with such recollections he could have 
doubted finding a fish with money in its mouth ! But ah ! 
how often have I yielded to similar unbelief and despon- 
dency in soul-saving, and in other of my more private affairs. 
I wonder what became of that piece of money. It would 
have been a curiosity, " That take, and give unto them, for 
me and for thee.'' The tax-gatherers got it, doubtless, and 
so it glided into the Roman treasury, and thence back again 
into the currency of the country. I have never learned that 
among all the relics of Popery, they have pretended to show 
this coin. The thing could be done, in their way, did they 
but think of it.* 

* It may turn up yet, and become aa profitable as " the holy coat," of late 
years ! — J. C. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 

York, Septcmbei' 10, 1845. 

AD the pleasure, a few evenings since, of traversing 
the sky through a povrerful telescope. We stood 
upon a quiet spot, 

*' Where Science points her telescopic eye, 
Familiar with the wonders of the sk)'." 

The heavens were cloudless and beautifully clear. The 
moon was there ^^^th all her " starry nobility " around her, 
" up and undisturbed in lofty fields of au*," — gazing upon 
earth intense, "as if" (to use a surmise of Pollock), "she 
saw some wonder walking there;" some wonder! aye, 
indeed! that we curious mortals should presume to gaze 
upon her fair face so inquisitively. 

Her stars were all about her, each in its place, as if fast 
anchored in the deep blue abyss ; where depths arc heighths, 
and hoighths are depths ; and fondly by her side a little star, 
the one, may be, of which the great poet speaks : 

" A single star is at her side, and reigns 
With her o'er half the lovely heaven." 



420 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Our friend elevated his instrument, as if " to tr9,vel up 
to the sharp peak of her sublimest height, and young aston- 
ishment commenting on prodigious things," — pausing in the 
field of one, once supposed the remotest in the solar system ; 
to us, certainly, the most beautiful of all her sisters, Saturn ; 
which should have been shown us last of aU, for we saw 
nothing to surpass or equal it in beauty and grandeur. It 
is a sublime creation, and took some of us by surpiise. For, 
though we had read about its appearance, yet never before 
having seen it through a telescope, it filled us with amaze- 
ment ; luminous mth rings, and striped with belts. O, but 
one did want to visit that beautiful orb, and examine the 
nature of those subhme accompaniments, which may be our 
privilege by and by. 

Saturn, if not the remotest planet in our system, is con- 
sidered, I believe, the slowest of them all in motion. Yet, 
in the single half hour we viewed him, he traversed more 
than ten thousand miles of space ! carrying along with him 
seven moons, and those two stupendous rings, and his own 
body too, larger than our earth by nine hundred times ! 

What a magnificent object, even at this distance, and 
seen tlirough an instrument necessarily imperfect. But how 
much more magnificent, if one viewed it in closer proximity, 
or in its immediate vicinity ; to behold such a globe, so vast, 
so beautiful, with such grand appendages, and moving with 
amazing velocity along the bosom of the firmament ! How 
awfully grand must it appear to those superior and happy 
beings who are permitted up there .to contemplate it ! 
Sublimity, grandeur, magnificence, beyond all our imagin- 
ings ! Well, if we are only good, and live and die holy. 



A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 421 

we may have that privilege, and many, many others. ^Ve 
must exchange worlds to know, see and enjoy. I^esides, we 
shall have larger capabilities for appreciation than now. 

It is not to the stars only we shall make a nearer 
approach, but to God himself, to the wisdom and under- 
standing of that great Behig who reigns enthroned amidst 
all this beauty and splendor ! 

How great a God is ours ! That vast globe, M^ith all its 
mighty appendages is but as a precious gem pendant from 
His own radiant throne. But what shall we say of those 
other thousands and thousands of globes which are scattered 
in such profusion over the fields of immensity ! all in like 
manner, but as the pendulous jewelry of that unrivaled 
throne ! 

One would think the poet Gay composed those line lines 
after enjoying such a scene as we are contemplating : 

" No distant landscapes draw our curious eyes ; 
Wrapt in night's robe the wliole creation lies. 
Yet still, ev'n now, wliile darkness clothes the land, 
We view the traces of the Almighty hand : 
Millions of stars in heaven's wide vault appear. 
And with new glories hangs the boundless sphere ; 
The silver moon her western couch forsakes, 
And o'er the skies her niglitly circle makes ; 
Her solid globe beats back the sunny rays, 
And to the world her borrowed light repays." 

But who would .su[)pose tliat a man who could write thus 
could have ever been tempted to write his own c{)itaph — 

thus : — 

" 1/ife is a j(!Ht, and all things hIiow it ; 
I thought HO once, jind now I know it." 



422 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Write it he did, intending it for his grave-stone, and upon 
the stone it was put. With my own eyes I read it on the 
slab which perpetuates his memory in " The Poet's Corner," 
in Westminster Abbey ! Ah ! he now knows the contrary 
of that libelous jest upon Nature, and upon Nature's God, 
and upon the immortal intellect of man, and his own 
accountabihty for the deeds done in this life ! 

The poet speaks of " the silver moon." Alas ! for the 
moon ! This telescope is no flatterer ! it would make as 
little of the queen of night as Gay would of life. So far 
from flattering her majesty, that is making her look better 
than she is, it makes her look worse, much worse ; robs her 
of more than half her charms, without adding anything to 
the pleasures of curiosity, caricatures her ! transforming her 
fair and beautiful face into a broad mass of molten lead ! O ! 
— and to have so fair a face so scandalized ! she, the 
beautiful queen of my affections, and my traveling com- 
panion over many a weary league by land and sea, over 
mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, oceans, and nations 
and continents ; the desire of my eyes, cheering me so often 
in strange lands ; her's the only face I knew, looking all the 
more lovely and soothing, as I hoped friends thousands of 
miles away were admiring that same serene countenance at 
the same moment with myself! exciting the wish that she 
could speak to them from the sky, and tell them, as we 
exchanged glances, the emotions of my heart and my where- 
abouts ! Do take away your telescope, and let me see if my 
once fair and beautiful companion is as lovely and tran- 
quil as ever ! Yes ! as ever ! she looks as lovely as 
ever ! 



A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 423 

" All hail to thee, radiant ruler of niglit ! 
Shedding round thee thy soft and silvery light ; 
Now touching the hill-tops, now threading the vale ; 
Oh, who can behold thee, nor hid thee all hail. 

" Through the path which thy Maker hath trac'd thee on high. 
Thou walkeet in silence across the vast sky ; 
Suns and worlds scatter'd round thee, though brilliant they be. 
Appear but as humble attendants on thee. 

'' Over mountain and valley, o'er ocean and isle, 
Pour down thy soft splendor, and lavish thy smile ; 
For thy splendor undazzling, and touchingly sweet ; 
Is one that ev'n sorrow serenely can greet. 
And thy smile glistening bright, on each dew-drop appears; 
Bringing hope from on high, forming rainbows in tears. 

** For thou comest forth when the stir is subsiding. 
Like an angel of light through the clear heavens gliding ; 
As if to remind us, ere sinking to rest, 
Of worlds more glorious, of beings more bleat." 

There ! that is pretty poetry ! sweet, and true to nature ; 
though, I fear I have not been quite true to the poet ; for, 
-were he alive and present, he would likely find fault with my 
disarrangement of his fine stanzas, unless he kindly made 
allowance for my weakness of memory. 

Pardon me, sir, if in defence of my lovely " Ruler of 
Night," my celestial favorite, I have been disrespectful to 
your excellent telescope ! for, I suppose that nothing short 
of Lord Ross's telescope could do her anything like justice ; 
and that is not to be seen every day. Yours seems to be 
more partial to Saturn than to tlie IMocn ! 

How one's soul enlarges itself as the telescope sweeps 



424 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

from star to star ! How vast the circumference which 
affords such ample space for such numberless worlds ! of 
magnitudes so enormous, of circuits so wide ! Aye, and 
room enough for other systems and worlds untelegraphed to 
earth, but intimated in the Galaxy, or IViilky Way! Our 
solar system alone is supposed to claim a cubical space of 
between three and four thousand milhons of miles in 
diameter. But what shall we say of the space claimed by 
the fixed stars and myiiads of other worlds which lie outside 
and beyond our solar system ? 

" How large say, then, 
Where ends this mighty building ? where begin 
The suburbs of creation ? where the wall 
Whose battlements look o'er into tlie vale 
Of non-existence, nothing's strange abode ! " 

There is a meaning, I think, beyond all human imaginings, 
in such expressions as the following, which we find scattered, 
like the stars themselves, over the pages of the Bible. 
" Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool ;" and, again. 
Job xxxviii. 31, 33, " Canst thou bind the sweet influences 
of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? Canst thou bring 
forth Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst thou guide Arcturus 
with his sons ? Knowest thou the ordinances of Heaven ? 
Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth ? " Ques- 
tions put to Job by God himself. And again, in the book of 
Psalms and in Isaiah, " The heavens declare the glory of 
God /' — " / dwell in the high and holy place, saith the High 
and Lofty One that inhahiteth eternity'' And again, " The 
third heaven.'' And again, " Who only hath immortality 



A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 425 

dwelling in the light.'" And again, " The Lord hath prepared 
His throne in the Heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all" 
And again, " A glorious high throne from the beginning is the 
place of our sanctuary" Glorious, indeed ! And if that 
opinion or surmise of the msest and best astronomers be 
correct, it may assist us somewhat in the comprehension of 
the glory of the thi'one ; that it is the centre of the universe, 
around which all the suns and systems of creation continually 
revolve ; that the sun is the centre of our solar system, — and 
a glorious high throne is His from the beginning of the crea- 
tion of God, being five hundred times larger than our earth, 
and all the planets and comets put together ; — ^that there are 
millions of other stars in the immensity of space which pay 
no allegiance to the sun, deriving from him neither light, 
heat, nor motion ; that our sun himself, with them, owes 
allegiance to a higher centre, and him and all revolve around 
a central orb yet higher, and that, with its*system of worlds 
roll around a centre still higher, till at length all the great 
central worlds in the universe of space are found to revolve 
around the throne of Almighty God, which is the glorious 
centre of all worlds. 

The idea in certainly a sublime one. To suppose such a 
vast ascending series of central worlds, with all their depend- 
ant worlds, of which they themselves, like our sun, are 
centres, revolving around the throne of God, the centre of 
them all, is an amazing thought I an overwhelming idea ! 

I once stood upon the Capitoline Hill of ancient Rome, — 

" T]i<i liigh placo wliere Rome embraced her heroes,'' 
and looked down upon tlie forum spread out beneath. 



426 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

spanned by triumphal arches, and strewn with broken 
columns and pedestals, and fragments of glorious architecture, 
once vocal with the eloquence of Cicero and other Roman 
orators of antiquity. " Hail, venerable forum !" exclaimed aU 
my heart, looking through my eyes. Hail, great centre of 
Roman dominion, and Roman power ! Hail, aU hail ! though 
in melancholy ruins all ! Hail the spot, yonder, where stood 
thy pillar of gold, from whence radiated as lines from their 
centre, roads to every province of the Roman empire, 
universal ! All hail ! I dare not chide my emotions ; for I 
feel that is a spot which still sways sublime dominion over 
one's imagination ! Like Gibbon, I could have " sat me 
down," and sighed to the passing winds of Heaven, though 
unblest with his inspiration to write " The Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Empire" Aye, I had feelings there which may 
not soon be forgotten. 

But what are^we to think of the glorious high throne of 
our God ! such a centre of empire, with such appendages ! 
Words fail ; and one's imagination holds sublime dominion 
over the soul. Adoring silence becomes us : 

" How great that Power, whose providential care, 
Through these bright orb's dark centre darts a ray ! 
By nature universal threads the whole ; 
And hangs creation like a precious gem, 
Though little on the footstool of his throne." 

And, then, to suppose those worlds, world above world, 
are all inhabited by myriads of intelligent beings, all burning 
with loyalty to that central throne, a loyalty which sin has 
never quenched or weakened ! 

Well, with such views, what is my estimate of this great 



A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 427 

conflict for souls here in York ? Do such views weaken 
or lessen its importance ? Not in the least. • The telescope 
interferes neither with my faith nor my zeal. The Bible ! 
the Bible ! thank God for the Bible ! its revelations surpass 
the telescope, and ever shall. The Florence philosopTier re- 
fused to look through Gallileo's telescope, lest he should see 
something that might disturb his faith in his own philosophy. 
I would like to traverse the heavens thus nightly, and gather 
zeal therefrom, to people those skies with the souls for whom 
the Son of God did bleed and die ! 

Yes ! for whom the Son of God did bleed and die ! 
Calvary ! Calvary ! Calvary ! Astronomy with all its won- 
ders, and the telescope with all its wonderous revelations, 
can show nothing to shake my faith in that stupendous fact 
exhibited on Calvary ! Tliey reveal nothing to. shake my 
faith in that ! Nothing to lessen the magnitude and import- 
ance of the sufferings of the Son of God on Calvary. No ! 
no ! no ! The scenes of Calvary eclipse all the wonders of 
the Armament ! The lore of those stupendous skies sinks 
into insignificance before the lore of Calvary. 

Calvary ! Yes, it is Calvary that elevates man to be the 
most valuable and magnificent creature upon the platform of 
creation ; else the Son of God had never left such a glorious 
throne, and retired from the grandeur of heaven to appear 
in the form of man, and actually to bleed to death upon a 
cross on Calvary- for his rescue from eternal woe. 

In view of Calvary, I would cry out with that eminent 
divine in Pans, " Disappear every other wonder of nature, 
and providence, and revelation ! vanish all of you before the 
miracles of the Cross I fgr the cross on Calvary outshines 



428 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

you all into the darkest shade ! this glorious Hght makes 
your glimmerings vanish ! and after my imagination is filled 
with the tremendous dignity of this saciiiice, I can see 
nothing great besides ;" — to which my whole being says, 
Amen ! 

It was a look at Calvary, and another look at man, 
which led one to exclaim two centuries ago, " The most 
valuable being in the world is man, and the most valuable 
part of man is his soul." How instinctively we feel this in 
view of Calvary ! And with what a tremendous weight 
does that dread question of Jesus come upon the mind in the 
presence of the Cross of Jesus Christ my Lord, " For what 
is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole tvorld, and lose his 
own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soulf" 
It shows that the world is too poor to pay its value ; that it 
would bankrupt the world to purchase it, aye, and a thou- 
sand miQions of world's besides ! 

And yet, poor infatuated sinners are parting with their 
souls for a trifle ; for, as one remarked, an earthly vanity, a 
fading commodity, a momentary pleasure, an opinion of 
honor, a thought of contentment, a dream of happiness ; at 
the risk of pulling down God's plagues and judgments upon 
them in this life, and the damnation of soul and body in the 
next ; betting with the devil, and staking their soul for a 
trifle ; and, as Dr. Chalmers observes, going to hell in a 
small way ! O, my soul awake to the rescue. 

And now, good telescope, farewell, and do good to every- 
body as thou hast to me. Adieu, with many thanks, my 
excellent friend, the owner of the instrument. Good bye! 
magnificent Saturn, and angry Jooking ^lars, and all ye 



A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE. 429 

glowing stars, and thou tranquil moon, and resplendent dome 
of heaven ; thou over-archmg firmament, farewell ! 

All hail the liuman soul ! the conquest of which shall be 
my highest ambition here below : 

" The soul, of origin divine, 

God's glorious image form'd of clay. 
In heaven's eternal sphere shall shine, 
A star of day / 

The sun is but a spark of fire, 

A transient meteor in the sky ; 

The soul, immortal as its smB, 

Shall never die !" 

Amen. 




CHAPTER XX. 

MORE NOTES OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 

^^y^ . September llth. 

CCESS to the people. More imagination than 
usual. This is best now and then. It serves to 
relieve ; gives elasticity after the onslaughts of 
severer truth. An audience loses its vivacity, so to speak, 
if hammered incessantly with the sterner attributes of truth. 
When a boy I could boast of whipping my top asleep / so may 
a preacher whip his congregation asleep, — ^into insensibility. 
Imagination has its uses id the economy of God j only let it 

" Shed its sweet sunshine on the moral part, 
Nor waste on fancy what should warm the heart." 

Septemher 12th. — ^Too much imagination, — ^into the other 
extreme ! Shall I never be able to observe the proper 
medium ? always running into extremes ; my nature, I fear, 
since a boy. And, yet, have been wonderfully preserved 
from vice in the extreme, even when I knew not God ; but 
extremes in this and that pursuit, or friendship, or emotion., 
Lord help me. .Lord Jesus preserve me. Leave me not 



MORE NOTES OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 431 

any more to myself in the pulpit ; save me from this sort of 
balooning ! " What doest thou here Elijah f among the 
rocks and precipices of Iloreb? What doest thou here 
James, in " cloud-land," among the stars, cHmbing amidst 
the firmaments of the Galaxy ? Oh ! No sinners there to 
be converted, no more than on Horeb, where Elijah stood. 
The prophet wanted to die, I suppose, and chmbed up as 
near Heaven as he could ; and James, though not wishing 
to die yet, took an excursion into the altitudes to see how 
they looked ; and descended to the prayer meeting in due 
time ; but — enough ! How careful ought I to be of my 
thoughts in private ; if plumed there for a flight in the 
wrong direction, they become like, that eagle among the 
Alps, the other day, that pounced upon a child and soared 
away TS'ith it toward heaven, leaving desolation in the cot- 
tage beneath ! 

O my soul I mind thy one great work, the awakening 
and conversion of sinners, and sanctification of believers ; 
and let the starry worlds take care of themselves, until thou 
shalt visit them, may be under happier circumstances. 
Amen. • 

Saturday Morning, Sept IWi. — Holiness last night. 
Aye, that is the doctrine to bring a preacher down out of 
cloud-land ! to humble and simplify his spirit ; calls him 
down from the altitudes, where the air is too thin to support 
lil'e, into the low, warm vales of humble love, in heart, in 
thought, in spirit, in language, in the manner of loving John, 
"that disciple whom Jesus loved\' who had pre-eminently the 
spirit of " the man of Nazareth'' Lord Jesus, give me more 
of this spirit. Amen. 



432 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

These Friday night discourses rectify my spirit, and cor- 
rect my style ; for I am always on hohness Friday nights. 
And how much better for one's own soul, than this soaring 
would-be-great style. The serpent's dust, spiritual pride, 
flies high ! So thick is it up yonder, it would put out the 
eyes and intoxicate the brain. 

The heavenly manna falls in the vale below ; and the 
doctrines there are pure as the mountain airs, stainless as 
the mountain snows, clear as the mountain springs, white 
as the spotless linen which drape the angels of Heaven. 
Rev. XV. 6. 

Holiness inspires a language peculiar to itself; a language, 
like the amber, to use an idea of Trench, where a thousand 
precious thoughts embed themselves, and are preserved. 
There are lightning-flashes there amid the thoughts ; but 
love arrests, and fixes, and preserves them from perishing ; 
for they reach the heart, as the Hghtning does, through all 
the space between the pulpit and the hearers, and embed 
themselves there, after working wonders ; destroying the 
works of the devil, establishing purity, bringing in and main- 
taining an everlasting righteousness. Hallelujah ! 

The number saved this week as follows : Fifty-two souls 
converted from the world ; fifteen members of this and other 
churches justified; and forty sanctified, — who had that 
prayer of the Apostle answered in themselves. 1 Thess. iv. 
23. Total this week, one hundred and seven. All these, 
as usual, have passed under careful and individual exam- 
ination and instruction; their own Hps testifying to the 
abundance of divine mercy and grace vouchsafed unto them 
in the hour of agonizing distress. Their names, also, and 



MORE NOTES OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 433 

places of residence duly recorded for the inspection of the 
Leader's Meeting. 

The following copy of a letter I neglected to enter upon 
my journal for August, I had better record here. It shows 
some "good fruit" from preaching on restitution: 

" London, 30, ItJi Month, 1845. 
" Esteemed Friend : We are duly favored and much 
gratified with a letter signed 'A Wesleyan,' of 29th inst., 
covering a half note, value when complete, £20. And we 
can rejoice vAih him and with thee at this fruit of thy min- 
istry, wliich has evidently been blessed. Without wishing 
to enter into particulars of name, it will be a satisfaction to 
us to know, in order to place the amount to proper account, 
whether the £20 belongs to the late firm of S. & W., or our 
present firm, S. & V., for whom I am very respectfully 
tliine. W. S."* 

The following letter to me, received a few days since, is 
worthy of place : 

" Dear Sir : Gratitude is powerless to express what I 
feel I owe you, through Divine interposition. I was a 
miserable, wTetched backslider. My mouth was filled with 
cursings ; my nights with all kinds of vices. IVIine were the 
horrors of a fallen spirit ; these were my rewards ; and hell, 
the lowest hell, my expectation. My heart was a hell of 
itselfl 

" And yet, I, even I, have mercy found ! Glory be to 
God, it LS so ! My soul Is happy once more ; I am a new 

•The namefl were in full in the above letter. — J. 0. 

19 



434 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

creature in Christ Jesus. All things have become new. In 
this matter, and that of peace, my soul is clear, through the 
blood of the Lamb ; and a happy house, besides, is mine. My 
wife and servant both converted, also. We all pray. We 
are all happy. Tell poor backsliders they may be saved, 
since Christ Jesus my Lord has saved me — the worst. 
Hell-lire would have been my portion but for this event. I 
expected to be sent to heU every day. 

"The restitution was from me. I would not sell my soul 
for that ; the owner has his own. But tell backsliders they 
need not despair. The world has lost its hold on me. But 
I intend to do something for God, and to redeem the time. 
My heart was a bad one, but not too bad for the blood of 
Christ to save. Hoping to meet you in Heaven, farewell. 

" G. H." 

Bless the Lord, O my soul! "/« not this a brand plucked 
out of the Jire.'' Zech. iii. 2. Restitution cases are spring- 
ing all around us, out of the darkness of dishonesty. A 
brother told me the other day that he knew of thi'ee letters 
passing through the post-office in one day, containing " resti- 
tution money." A taUor in London is soon to have his bill 
remitted, so one tells me, who has called for advice ; and 
yet another case, — a lady handed him what she thought 
was a shilUng to pay for a cab, but which was really a 
sovereign, which he pocketed, and said nothing. She missed 
it, but he denied, and so the matter passed, but conscience 
recorded the item among other items, and now rages about 
it, and demands to be rid of it. Some one has called con- 
science a spiritual echo, as it echoes the actions of past hfe, 
and makes them sound again. It has been echoing fearfully 



MORE NOTES OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 435 

through his soul, and filling him with doleful accusations 
and forebodings. The lady, he tells me, it is impossible to 
find. In that case I advised he should drop it into the 
poor-box. 

Monday 'Morning, Sept. 15th. — A good day yesterday. 
Less imagination ; more of solid truth ; but forgot not that 
sentiment of one, " It is unphilosophical to depend upon the 
mere statement of truth." Aye! some do this, and are dry 
preachers, and their success is on a par with their dryness. 
I was enabled to avoid that error, while the imagination was 
held in tolerable subordination. 

Imagination and taste are aids. Tact is useful, also. 
Tact places truth in advantageous positions ; but imagina- 
tion illumines truth, and renders it striking. Genius is a 
better word than tact ; as it imphes something higher and 
nobler, while it includes within it the skill and readiness of 

tact: 

" To bind the firm and animate the cold." 

A noble company of young people saved ; an acceptable 
offering to the Lord our God ; not of the world's leavings, 
nor of Satan's worn-out slaves, vnth exhausted affections 
and beggared spirits. No ! but \'igorous, fresh-hearted, and 
lovely, as the fountains of water playing amid the morning 
sunbeams : 

" But sure the stream of life must sweeter stray, 
The nearer to its source the waters play." 

Last week I received the following note from our 
secretar}' : 

" Dear Sir : We had a remarkable case on hand after 
you left, last niglit. A poor, wretched "^Teck of a man came 



436 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

down to where we were recording the names of the saved. 
He was in deep distress of mind about his soul. In broken 
accents he said : * Ah, Sir ! I am the man ! — ^he whom the 
preacher described in his sermon to-night. It was my first 
time being here. The word went to my heart. I am a poor 
backsHder.' But all the truth had to come out. He him- 
self had preached the Gospel. 'And what caused you to 
fall away, my friend?' He replied with deep emotion, 
* Strong drink, Sir,' — a telling fact, Mr. C, for a temper- 
ance meeting ! He added, ' Nine years ago, in Bristol, my 
position was highly respectable. I was solicited to attend 
political meetings at a hotel; did so, drink ruined me.' At 
this moment, the Rev. Mr. Comuck came in, and looking at 
the man recognized him, and asked, 'Do you know me?' 
' No sir.' * But I know you,' rejoined Mr. C., ' and have 
heard you preach ; and, if ever a man preached the Gospel, 
you did, and faithfully, in Bristol.* Here the man felt 
terribly. 

" His history is a mournful and painful one. Drink 
ruined him indeed. He has been tramping about the last 
three years, with a son, seventeen years of age, picking up a 
miserable pittance by whisthng songs, ingeniously, in public 
houses. He has not seen his wife during that time. More 
particulars hereafter. "We are about to assist him.* 
''Affectionately, in haste, 

" T. B. Smithies.'* 

* A remarkable caee ! " Sharp misery had worn him to the bone." He found 
peace in Christ soon after; abandoned drink and vice, and became a new man. 
A few choice souls joined hands with God, to bid him live; lifted him into life; 
obtained a respectable situation for him, for which he was qualified by previous 
education. He and his eon are doing well. We hope for the best couceming 
them. The Lord is great.— J. 0. 



MORE NOTES OF THE REVIVAL IN YORK. 437 

Another brand plucked out of the fire! O but it is 
worth hving for, tliis ! Let me pursue, with renewed ardor, 
the business for which I was born But my soul travels 
onward, in the deep valley of humihation. But that was. 
the valley trod by my blessed Lord. It is pleasant. There 
are many sunny spots in it ; and sheltered from blasts rife on 
mountain tops. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

SUDDEN DEATH OP A LEADER. 

;NE of my officers here has fallen, not into sin, thank 
God! but into eternity, and suddenly. T. H., 
who rendered valuable service to our Lord Jesus, 
in this revival, has been sent for, and has gone to Heaven. 
Ah ! how solemnly it affects us who are left behind, to fight 
on, for victory ! May the solenm event do us all good. We 
are noticed in Heaven by " a cloud of witnesses" may we 
behave ourselves nobly on the field, and quit us like men ! 
***** 

He spoke well who compared the breath of man to a 
written sentence, in which there are divers commas and short 
pauses, after which speedily follows a full stop, and there's 
an end ! Just so ! and I trust our departed brother punctu- 
ated the sentence of his life well ! so that it reads well to 
himself, now in eternity ! Happy is he who can say with 
him, and thus carry it out to the full stop in death, which 
is but a prelude and a pause to its recommencement in 
Heaven : 



SUDDEN DEATH OF A LEADER. 439 

" Long as I live beneath, 

To Thee, let me live ! 
To thee ray every breath, 

In thanks and praises give ! 
What e'er I have, whate'er I am. 
Shall magnify my Maker's name. 

Then when the work is done. 
The work of faith with power. 

Receive thy favored son. 
In death's triumphant hour ; 

Like Moses to thyself convey, 

And kiss my raptured soul away." 

Our friend visited D. on business, and there suddenly 
departed for glory. 

" They looked — he was dead ! his spirit had fled ; 

Painless and swift as his own desire. 
The soul undress'd from her mortal vest, 

And stepped in her car of heavenly fire ; 
And proved how bright were the realms of light, 
Bursting at once upon the sight." — 

Leaving his body and his character to his friends, as Elijah 
did his faith and his mantle to Elisha. 

"NYliat a mighty change does the follower of Jesus know 
after death ! from earth to heaven ; one dying hour doing 
what all the praying he ever enjoyed could not do ; intro- 
duces him to the \-isible presence of Christ. Now sick, next 
moment perfectly well, free from pain and anxious care for 
ever and ever. " Now in the body," said one, " conversing 
%\'ith men, living among sensible objects, and within a few 
moments to be with the Lord. This hour on earth, the next 



440 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

in the ' third heaven.' Now viewing the world, and anon 
standing among an innumerable company of angels, and the 
spirits of just ihen made perfect. To be lifted up from a 
bed of sickness to a throne of glory. To leave a sick and 
pained body, and be in a moment perfectly well, and free 
from all infirmity and sorrow, — ^where all is unquestionable, 
absolute certainty. And thus it is, O that all the world 
might hear and understand ! When a saint dies, all Heaven 
above is, as it were, moved to receive and entertain him at 
his coming. But when a sinner dies, * Hell from leneath is 
moved for him to meet him at his coming, — it stirreth up the 
dead for him.' " Men are greatly contrasted in character 
here. The very pagans themselves, on this account, con- 
templated a contrast in the character of their reception 
after death. 

Thanks be unto Jesus for this victory over death ! It is 
to thee, O Christ, we owe it, A martyr was asked how he 
could appear so light and cheerful with such a terrible 
death before him, replied, "My heart is so light at my death 
because Christ's was so heavy at his.'-' Aye ! there it is ! 
The secret is there ! All the bitterness there is in death, he 
tasted for us, and that rendered our tasting of that bitterness 
unnecessary. 

All this is fully realized by the justified and purified soul, 
in passing through the ceremony of dying. It was bitter to 
Jesus that it might be sweet to us. No wonder St. Paul 
said, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to 
depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." Most 
men need patience to die, some one observed, but St. Paul, 
it would seem, needed patience to live ! So the world goes 



SUDDEN DEATH OF A LEADEK. 441 

to the present time ! If we would see the face of God in 
Heaven we must first be able to look death in the face upon 
earth. Not, however, from mere natural courage, of which 
the ungodly warrior, on the field of battle, has plenty. No, 
but as a result of grace ; like Dr. Goodwin in his last mo- 
ments : " Ah ! is this dying *? How have I dreaded as an 
enemy this smiling friend ! " So gracious is our God at last, 
even to those who live beneath their privileges. 

Thus have I whiled away a soHtary hour. I can realize 
somewhat how a general must feel who loses a beloved officer 
in the battle. Well, farewell, my brother ! My soul says 
of thee, as the ancient Romans of a departed hero. Abut ad 
plures, he has gone over to the majority ! Aye ! and before 
a great wliile the minority must follow thee. As Edmund 
Burke to Sir Joshua Reynolds, in concluding a notice of his 
death, so would I say to thee, " Hail, and farewell ! " May 
our Lord Jesus Christ prepare us all for the same mighty 
change. Amen ! 

" What though the stream of death divide 

Our souls a moment on the shore, 
We part to meet, we join to abide, 

Where pain and parting are no more !•" 

But what a vapor is life ! or, at best, a taper feebly glim- 
mering and exposed, and readily extinguished. As Flavel 
observes, — " There is no more but a pufF of breath, a blast 
of wind betwixt this world and that which Ls to come." 
Very true ! And to think that one's eternal destiny for weal 
or woe may be thus disposed of is enough to fill any man's 
mind ^vith consternation who is living in sin ; — that is, if he 
would allow himself time to think upon the subject. 
10* 




CHAPTER XXII. 

NOTES OP MEN AND THINGS IN YOEK. 

To 

York, Sept 17, 1845. 

OTJ wish to know my " whereabouts," and what I 

am about, now that " majestic August " has bidden 

me adieu, and "pleasant September" taken me 

by the hand. 

But as you are pretty well " posted up " as to my July 

and August movements, little need be said. Here I am still 

in the old city of York, and " stirring " in right good earnest, 

full of the life of soul-saving ; — ^head, heart and hands full, 

and lips. Solomon says, " The lips of the righteous feed 

many /" and his father before him speaks of the sword of the 

hps. Jesus says, " Out of the abundance of the heart the 

mouth spedketh" How sweet also that message from God, 

by Isaiah : " My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which 

I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor 

out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's 

seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Isaiah 

Kx. 21. Blessed be God ! 



NOTES OF MEN AND THINGS IN YORK. 443 

To jour inquirj regarding the ministers, they are all 
w4th me, and with all their heart and soul, affording me all 
the aid in their power, vdth perfect liberty to " push the 
battle to the gates," without " let or hindrance." Some of 
them occupies the pulpit every Monday night, usually. 

A few nights since, a sweet discourse from excellent Mr. 
Walton, superintendent. It was hstened to with deep atten- 
tion ; — in thought and structure of sentences elegant ; in 
language comely, holding "the ear of thought" a willing 
captive ; — modest in speech and gesture, with all the Gospel 
learning in his expressive countenance : — 

" A manly style, fitted for manly ears." 

Such are the sentiments which arise in one's mind when 
hearing this excellent man. He has a beautifully con- 
structed and finely balanced mind, richly adorned with 
varied knowledge, with grace matui-ed. 

He is the author of several popular works ; — ^that on 
" The Witness of t/ie Sioirit" and another entitled, " The 
Mature Christian;' himself a noble illustration. I have 
found a friend in ]Mr. Walton, — one who vrill not change 
with the seasons, unless my judgment or discernment have 
deserted me. This alone well repays my visit to York. 

I had the privilege, also, a few weeks since, of hearing 
another of his colleagues, the Rev. Charles Cheetham. It 
was an ingenious and telHng discourse on Rev. ii. 5 : 
^^ Remember therefore from wlience thou art fallen, and repent, 
and do the first v:orks, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and. 
will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" 
They were to remember from what they fell, and by what they 



444 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

fell, and to what they fell. Upon these points he was 
exceedingly searching, but alarmmg upon the consequences 
to which their fall had exposed them ; reminding one of the 
manner of some of the old Puritan divines, — terse, pointed, 
full of truth and originality, and hearty honesty ; — strikingly 
versed in the causes and preventives of " the falling sick- 
ness" among churches and individual Cluistians. God bless 
Brother Cheetham for that sermon ! for I am sure it must 
have been made a blessing to many. It would be a blessing 
preached over and over again in any latitude in Christendom. 
It was 

" Sterling sense. 
That which, like gold, may through the world go forth, 
And always pass for what 'tis truly worth." 

T^ 7(f ^ T^ ^ ^(r 

I have just enjoyed a pleasant ride amidst pretty cottages 
" with gardens redolent with flowers " and birds around, 
"with dainty plumage and melodious song." The less 
showy birds sing the sweetest, the prettiest are the least 
talented. The blackbird and the thrush are my favorites ; 
the latter is really a pretty bird, but it requires one to be 
near it to appreciate its beauty, for it is not a showy bird ; 
but one forgets all else but its sweet and powerful song. Its 
voice reminds me much of the American robbin, — at least in 
some of its notes. 

England is a lovely land. There is an air of comfort, 
intelligence, and well-to-do eveiT^here, except in the large 
cities and towns, where squalid poverty, vice, and ignorance 
are painfully prevalent. But of what large town and city 
in any country in Christendom may one not say the same ? 



NOTES OF MEN AND THINGS IN YORK. 445 

The Love-feast was a gracious season ; — "joy answering 
joy," — a brotherhood of sweetest feeling. 

From soul to soul the spreading influence steals, 
Till every breast the soft contagion feels." 

Hundreds of new converts, mingling their sobs and tears 
and testimonies and hallelujahs ^vith the old veterans of 
Zion's banners ! 

Wesleyan Methodism in York has some beautiful minds ; 
choice spirits ; full of love to God, and benevolence to the 
poor, succorers of many, as the unseen stream, warbling and 
meandering in desert places, nourishing and cherishing many 
a tender herb and plant and flower, unknown to the gi'eat 
world. 

But York, like most places I have visited, is not without 
such as Tertullian called " silken Christians," who bear no 
cross, and are notorious at " the knack of hoping," as Gold- 
smith speaks, to be carried into Heaven on the back of the 
church. The gates of glory will be too low, I fear, to admit 
such riders; such church appendages will be "sloped off" 
in the hour of trial. It is a pity ; for they deny themselves 
of many things the wcu'ld offers, for the sake of such a com- 
fortable seat on the back of the church ! 

That is a terrible declaration of God : "/So 7 sware in 
my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest'' Hcb. iii. 11. 
Enough, as one remarks, to shake every vein of the unbe- 
liever's heart ; for it is as if God had said : " If they ever 
come into my glory, then say I am no God, for I have sworn 
the contrar}'." Well, such hear, now and again, some 
startling and searcliing appeals. T.ut they turn away the 



446 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

ear, and refuse to hear, until their hearts are hardened. 
Water runs off a duck's back without penetrating the 
feathers. The regular Wesleyan pastorate, are active, 
zealous men, and generous, and self-renouncmg ; caring not 
whose labor may be most honored, if the work of God but 
go on. O how pleasant does this make my exhausting toil ! 
The leaders, too, male and female, are untiring in their 
efforts for souls ; persons of deep piety, and fine intelligence, 
and humble withal. Many of the membership are heartily 
engaged for God, as opportunity serves ; nor do they wait 
for opportunities, but create them; a great deal in that! 
How often they remind me of what Nehemiah said of the 
citizens of Jerusalem, during the building of the walls : 
" The people had a mind to work.'' 

****** 
The work advances in power. Scores of sinners con- 
verted this week, and scores of believers purified. A day 
or two since I received the following : 

" Dear Sir : Twenty years ago, A. B. was a tippler. 
During five years he stole his employer's liquor to diink. 
A sennon some years ago troubled him, and he restored 
£10. But under a sermon lately, during this revival, ' Resti- 
tution or perdition,' again aroused him, and he remitted £31 
10s., with these words appended : * I think myself indebted 
to you for this sum.' The gentleman who received the resti- 
tution, returned the following reply : * Mr. D. acknowledges 
with thanks, the receipt of £31 10s. Aug. 21, 1845.' 

"Twenty-two days after, Mr. D. himself was called 
to render up his own account to God. These facts suffi- 



NOTES OF MEN AND THINGS IN YORK. 447 

ciently attest the power of divine truth, when faithfully- 
preached and applied by the Holy Ghost. 

" Affectionately, 

" L. T." 

Have just returned from a tea meeting in the New Tem- 
perance Hall; delivered an address. There is a singular 
moumiiilness over my spirit. The state of my health may 
be the cause. How the body can weigh down the mind ! — 
such " conscious poverty of soul," as I feel this evening ! 
What changes come over the spiiit I 

Such ebb and How must ever be, 
Then wherefore should we mourn ? 

— especially seeing we Hve in these houses of clay, — one so 
shaken as mine. But O for quickening grace, that so greatly 
strengthens the body as well as the soul. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE CORNER-STONE AND THE WORM. 

S I wrote you last, so continues the work, without 
pause or abatement ; scenes of glories, power 
and mercy. 

A few days since, rode over to Fulford, a neighboring 
village, with the Rev. D. Walton and Mrs. Walton. The 
laying " the foundation stone " of a new chapel there, was 
the occasion. Mr. W. was to "lay the stone," while an 
address was expected from me. During the interesting cere- 
mony, my mind was quite barren and confused. How the 
body can weigh down the soul! confuse and perplex the 
operations of the brain, shade, overshadow so the intellectual 
powers. O thou web of life ! thou soul and body, how 
strangely interwoven together ! 

I watched the procedure of laying the stone, but could 
not collect half a dozen ideas together, nothing beyond a 
few common-place remarks, until a little worm that was 
hanging in the bank dropped down into the mortar, and 
barely escaped being crushed to death by the descending 



THE CORNER-STONE AND THE WORM. 449 

Stone. That roused me ; for it suggested : 1st., Math. xxi. 44 : 
*^ And whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken ; but 
on whomsoever this stone shall fall it will grind him to powder " 
This was a good starting point ; Jesus Christ himself bemg 
that stone; reference to Isaiah xxviii. 16, where he is called 
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, 
a sure foundation ! Here are titles, showing the immovable 
solidity and preciousness of having Chiist for a foundation, 
'"''Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone,'' according 
to the Apostle. Ephes. ii, 20. 

2d. And again, " Other foundation can no man lay, than 
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'' 1 Cor. iii. 11. 
Now all this being settled and sure as the throne of God in 
Heaven, needs no farther argument or illustration from us. 

3d. But one thing more is equally sure, and you may 
rely upon one as well as the other, that " whosover shall fall 
upon this stone," Jesus Christ, ^^ shall be broken," — unto 
repentance and deep contrition for sin ; shall be broken off 
from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and united to Christ 
and saved ; shall be broken off from the ranks of sin and 
sinful men, and joined to the visible church ; shall be broken 
off from the old stock Adam, — the olive that is " wild by 
nature," and grafted into Christ, "the good olive tree." 
Rom. xi. 17, 24. Shall be broken off from "the broken 
cisterns " of sinful and worldly pleasures, aye, and mere legal 
observances, " which can hold no water," can afford no 
living waters of divine refreshment to the thirsty soul, and 
united with that spiritual rock, from which flows rivers of 
living water, wliich followed the Israelites wherever they 
went in the great wilderness, " for," as says St. Paul, " they 



450 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock 
was Christ,'' a rock which still follows his spiritual Israel, 
until their feet dip into the Jordan of death, as they enter 
the heavenly Canaan ! 

4th. But he that hath an ear to hear, let hira hear! 
Equally true is the other dread clause of that sentence-warn- 
ing of Jesus ; " hut on whomsoever this stone shall fall it will 
GEIND HIM TO POWDEK," — terrible judgments here and 
hereafter ! 

5th. A few moments since, I noticed a worm as it fell 
from that clayey bank, in the crisis of lowering that founda- 
tion stone to its place. It fell upon the mortar into which 
the stone was about to be imbedded. It crawled along, and 
barely escaped being crushed to death. 

6th. That worm resembles that impenitent man standing 
there looking on. He has not yet fallen on Christ ; not yet 
broken down nor broken off from any of those things we 
have noticed; not yet united to Christ, or joined his people, 
as a new creature ! 

7th. Sinner! Sinner! Sinner! Listen to me. Behold 
your peril in the incident of that worm. It illustrates your 
sad case. Angels notice you as I noticed the worm. They 
tremble for you. God himself noticed the worm; for, if 
a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without the notice of 
the Lord of Heaven, a worm may not be beneath the con- 
descensions of his regard ; nor is thy soul, O sinner ! 

8th. Hear me ! Your peril is as imminent as was that 
of the worm. But alas ! consequences differ, as much as 
eternity differs from time. Had that stone fallen upon the 
wonn, its substance would have blended with the mortar, in 



THE CORNER-STONE AND THE WORM. 451 

instant death; and no more would have been heard or 
known of .the worm ; it would have had no future history. 
But the true foundation stone falling upon you — ^instant 
death, — what then? Your history continues its annals; 
soul severed from the body; that body disjointed "bone 
from bone," — ground into the powder of graveyard dust. 

" But all ! destruction stops not there I " 

9th. So sure as the substance of that worm would have 
been rent and mashed into mortar, your soul would be 
immersed in flames ; the case of the rich sinner mentioned 
by our Lord, who died, was buried, and in hell-fire lifted up 
his eyes, is an illustration of terrible significance. Luke, 
sixteenth chapter. 

10th. Hear me, O sinful man ! He spoke well who said, 
we might as well try to measure eternity as the sinner's 
danger out of Christ. But the little worm escaped death ; 
and so may you. But there is no escape for you if you die 
as you are. I announce to your ears nothing new in this ; 
but how woefully heedless of it have you been. 

11th. The crisis of such a calamity may be now impend- 
ing. A kind hand has just picked the worm out of the 
mortar, where another hand had 'just pushed it aside from 
death. jNIay the hand of eternal Mercy reach your soul this 
day, and drag you out of the mire of sin. 

12th. The worm is now in safe-keeping from farther 
peril, let us hope. Sinner ! Sinner ! Sinner ! commit your 
soul to the safe-keeping of Jesus, from farther peril, from 
this hour, and for ever and ever. Fall upon Christ, this 
instant, now, and be broken into alarm and contrition for 



452 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

sin ; else, alas ! alas ! You may be soon in the custody of 
devils. If death find you doing the devil's woii:, he will 
consign you to the devil's clutches ; then comes the devil's 
lodgings and the devil's pay for a life service ! 

Hear me, all of you ! Sinning to-day in England, and 
wailing in hell to-morrow, is no pleasing transition ! No, 
nor is it a pleasing thought to carry away with you from the 
scene of laying the foundation stone of the Fulford "Wesleyan 
Methodist Chapel. 

Well, the benediction was pronounced, and the people 
solemnly dispersed to their homes ; some, I hope, to repent 
and pray. Perhaps this seed sown may bring forth fruit 
unto eternal life. It may be there was a good reason why 
my mind should have been so barren of a subject. The 
Holy Spirit, possibly, had that little worm in reserve, as 
furnishing something better than what would have occurred 
from my own cogitations. He delights to accomplish great 
ends by small means ; for so it is written, that " God hath 
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things 
which are mighty; and hose things of the world, and tilings 
which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are 
not, to bring to nought the things that are ; that no flesh 
should glory in his presence." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. And so 
the Lord calls Jacob a " worm " by the prophet ; yet prom- 
ises to make "a new sharp threshing instrument" of that 
worm, *' having teeth." What next? That worm threshing 
jraountains, and beating them small, and the hills to chaiF, 
and raising a whirlwind to scatter them ! Isaiah xli. 14, 16. 
All in harmony with God's established order and purpose, — 
to accomplish great things by small means. 



THE CORNER-STONE AND THE WORM. 453 

Praise the Lord ! I will hope that the incident of the 
worm may not soon be forgotten ; and that it may be the 
means of saving some soul from '•^the worm that never dies," 
If some sinner shall date his awakening and conversion from 
it, the small matter brings about a mighty event. That 
worm may be identified with his history through ages ever- 
lasting. In the midst of his eternal hallelujahs, he may 
stop to tell the story of the worm at Fulford ! 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

MEETING THE NE"W CONVERTS. 

FEW" nights since we held a meeting for the 
benefit of the new converts ; about six hundred 
of whom were present ; all very happy ; a fine, 
intelligent, rejoicing multitude! What a change from the 
storm of their weeping aud wailing a few weeks ago. 
"Another hell," as some one called it; but now truly 
resembling Heaven in no small degree ! 

An old mother in Israel told me she used to be present 
at Mr. "Wesley's society meetings ; and she remembers, when 
looking upon such a large company of people converted 
under his ministry, he would become greatly moved, and 
would begin to sing, all joining with him : 

" Who, I ask in amaze, liath begotten me these ? 
And inquire from what quarter they came ? 
My full heart it replies, ' They are born from the skies, 
And give glory to God and the Lamb.' 



MEETING THE NEW CONVERTS. 455 

O the fathomless love, that has deign'd to approve, 

And prosper the work of my hands ; 
With my pastoral crook, I went over the brook, 

And, behold, I am spread into bands ! 

All honor and praise to the Father of grace. 

To the Spirit and Son I return ! 
The business pursue, He hath made me to do, 

And rejoice that I ever was born ! '' 

We felt DO small degree of the same feeling, when sur- 
rounded by these hundreds of happy and triumphant new 
converts. 

After the usual confirmatory service, an invitation to 
seekers was given. Many came forward. It was a time of 
power ; and about forty were ^aved before the meeting 
closed. God might well ask Abraham, "/s any thing too 
hard for the Lordf'' Gen. xviii. 13. No, my Lord, no! 
Seeing Thy word declares, " Thy people shall he willing in 
the day of Thy power y Psalms ex. 3. Surely this is the 
day of Thy power in this city. Glory be to God ! 

But my soul is very humble ; an oppressive sense of 
nothingness. Satan near to usurp upon me. 

Health worse, somewhat. The wheezing cough has 
returned. O for quickening grace, that can change the 
briar into a fir-tree, the thorn into a myrtle, the thistle into 
a rose ! For surely a weak body reminds of these, when the 
soul has a TN-ill to work, and the fields ripe in harvest breezes 
waving. But the will of the Lord be done. 

Must soon leave York for elsewhere. O this wandering 
mode of life. It needs peculiar grace. Live or die, I am 
shut up unto tills. I can do no other than I am doing. 



456 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Surely a great door and an effectual has been opened to me 
of the Lord. 1 Cor. xvi. 9. 

Many saved yesterday (Sabbath). Last week there 
were seventy-six converted from the world, and twenty 
old professors besides, and thirty cases of entire sanctifica- 
tion — surely these did experience the blessedness of the pure 
in heart ! Math. v. 8. Total saved last week, one hundred 
and twenty-six. All glory be to God. 

My correspondence is heavy; mailed twenty-seven let- 
ters to-day. I see not how I can curtail at present, without 
giving offense, which I am unwilling to do, — of many I 
have no disposition to do so, — ^for they are very dear friends. 

A sweet dream last night; the moon at the fuU, and all 
her stars about her ; and one beautiful star going down in 
the west, and all Nature in a deep calm — a contrast to the 
revival storm in which I am thoroughly involved. 

Mr. Burdekin, one of the oldest booksellers in York, and, 
if I mistake not, the oldest male member of the Wesleyan 
Society, except Mr. Agar, presented me with the following 
curious old bill, copied from one stuck up at Richmond, on 
the 4th of June, 1774, the king's birth-day, close to the play 
biQ for that day, and was read by many thousands on that 
day, and produced a decided effect. The present bill has 
been carefully preserved for many years ; it has been backed 
with an additional layer of paper to keep it together. It 
was printed in Bristol ; and shows the efforts of the Meth- 
odists in the times of the Wesleys, to cope with one of the 
many evils which suri'ounded them. It is stUl worthy of 
preservation, and might, if printed, awaken conviction in the 
consciences of " play-goers." It reads as follows : 



AN OLD BILL. 457 

BY COIVIMAND OF THE KING OF KINGS. 

AND AT THE DESIRE OF ALL WHO LOVE HIS APPEARING. 



AT THE THEATRE OF THE UNIVERSE, 

On the EVE of TIME, will be performed 

THE GREAT ASSIZE, OR 

DAY OF JUDGMENT 

Earnestly Recommended to the Serious Attention of every Individual. 



T^HE SCENERY, which is now actually preparing, will not only surpass every 
-*■ thing that has yet been seen, but will infinitely exceed the utmost stretch of human 
conception. There will be a just representation of the Inhabitants of the whole world, 
in their various and proper colors ; and their customs and manners will be so exactly 
and so minutely delineated, that the most secret thought will be discovered. 

This THEATRE will be laid out after a new Plan and will consist of Pit and 
GalUrj only, and contrary to all others, the Gallery is fitted up for the reception of 
people of high or heavenly birth ; and the Pit for those of low or earthly rank. 
|^=* The GALLERY is very spacious, and the PIT without Bottom ! 

To prevent inconveniences, there are separate doors for admitting the company, 
and tffey are so different that none can miss them who are not totally blind : — The door 
that opens into the Gallery is very narrow, and the steps up to it are somewhat difficult, 
for which reason there are seldom many about it : but the door that gives entrance into 
the Pit is very wide and very commodious, which cause such numbers to flock to it that 
it is generally crowded. 

The STRAIGHT DOOR leads tovyards the right-hand, and the BROAD ONE 
to the left. 

It will be in vain for one in a tinselled coat and borrowed language to personate 
one of high birth, in order to get admittance into the upper places ; for there is One 
of wonderful and deep penetration, who will search and examine evdr>' individual ; and 
all who cannot pronounce Shiholeth in the language of Canaan, or who have not re- 
ceived a while stone and a new name, or cannot prove a clear Title to a certain portion 
in the Land of Promise, must be turned in at the left-hand door. 

THE PRINCIPAL PERFORMERS 
Are described in I. Ihess. iv. i6. II. Thess. i. 7, 8, 9. Matt. xxiv. 20, 21, and 
XXV. 31, 32. Dan. vii. 9, 10. Jude 14, 15. Rev. xx. 12, 13, &c. But as there are 
some people better acquainted with the contents of a PLAY-BILL than the Wokd 
OF CjfOD, it may not be amiss to transcribe a verse or two for their perusal ; — " The 
Lord Jeiui ihall kt revealed from Heaven vjith hif^ mighty Angels, taking vengeance on 

them that obey not the Gospel, hut to he glorified in his Saints. yl fiery stream issued and 

tame forth from before him, a thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 
times ten thousand stood before him. — The Judgment was set, and the Bookt were opened, — 
And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the Laic of Fire. 

20 



458 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

ACT FIRST.— Of this grand and solemn Piece, will be opened by an ARCH- 
ANGEL, with the SOUND OF A TRUMPET ; who shall swear by HIM that 
liveth forever and ever, that there shall be Time no longer ! 

ACT SECOND.— Will be a PROCESSION of SAINTS in WHITE, with 
GOLDEN HARPS, accompanied with SHOUTS of JOY and SONGS OF 
PRAISE. 

ACT THIRD.— Will be an ASSEMBLAGE of all the UNREGENERATE. ; 
The MUSIC will chiefly consist of CRIES, accompanied with weeping, mourning, 
lamentation and woe ! 

TO CONCLUDE WITH 

AN ORATION BY. THE SON OF GOD. 



It is written in the xxv. of Matt, from the 34th verse to the end of the chapter, but 
for the sake of those who seldom read the Scriptures, I shall here transcribe two 
verses : — " Then shall the King say to them on hie right-hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : — Then 
shall he say to them on his left-hand, Depart ye cursed, into everlasting Fire^ prepared for 
the Devil and his Angels : — 

AFTER WHICH, THE CURTAIN WILL DROP 

Then, O to tell I 
Some rais'd on high, and others doom'd to Hell : 
These praise the Lamb, and sing Redeeming Love, 
Lodg'd in his bosom, all his goodness prove ; 
While those who trampl'd under foot his grace, 
Are banish'd now forever from his face ; 
Divided thus, a Gulf is fix'd between : 
And Everlasting closes up the Scene. 



TICKETS for the Pit, at the easy purchase of following the vain pomps and vani- 
ties of the fashionable world, and the desires and amusements of the flesh ; and to be 
had at every flesh-pleasing assembly. 

TICKETS for the Gallery, for no less rate than being converted, forsaking all, 
denying self, taking up the Cross, and following Christ in the regeneration ; to be had 
no where, but in the Word of God, and wh'Cre that Word appoints. ' 

^W^ No Money will be taken at the Door, nor will any Tickets give admittance 
into the Gallery, but those sealed by the Holy Ghost with Immanuel's Signet. 

Thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do thus unto thee, prepare 
to meet thy God, O Israel. — Amos iv. 12. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



YORK CASTLE. 



) X \T^SITED the Castle the other day, and spent a 
rMi solemn hour. " York Castle," an imposing name 



^4.ft^.!. for a prison, but it is a stronghold indeed ; a 
prison for one of the largest counties in England. How 
forcibly one is reminded, in passing along its dreary corridors, 
of Mrs. Sigoumey's prison scene : 

" Tlie harsh key grated in its ward, 

The massy holts withdrew, 
And watchful men of aspect stem, 

Gave us admittance through : — 
Admittance where so many pine, 

The far release to gain ; 
Where desperate hands have vainly striven 

To wrest the bars in vain. 

What untold depths of human woe. 

Have rolled their floods along, 
Since first these rugged walls were heaved 

From their foundations strong; 



460 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Guilt, with its scarred and blackened breast, 

Fierce, Hate, Tvith sullen glare, 
And Justice, smiting unto death. 

And desolate Despair. 

Here Crime hath spread a loathsome snare 

For souls of lighter stain, 
And Shame hath covered, and Anguish drained 

The darkest dregs of pain ; 
And Punishment its doom hath dealt. 

Relentless as the grave. 
And spurned the sinful fellow-worm. 

Whom Jesus died to save. 

Yes, here they are, the fallen so low, 

"Who bear our weaker form. 
Whose rude and haggard features tell 

Of paEsion's wrecking storm." 



Aye! "passion's wrecking storm!" and the Rum demon 
was the spirit of that storm! Almost every countenance 
and form indicated that fact, as a country shows the devas- 
tated path of the late tornado. He spoke well who said: 

" I gazed upon the tattered garb. 
Of one who stood a listener by ; 
The hand of misery pressed him hard, 
And tears of sorrow swelled his eye. 

I gazed upon his palhd cheek. 

And asked him how his cares begun ? 

He sighed and thus essayed to speak. 
' The came of aM my griefs tens Bum.^ 



YORK CASTLE. 461 

I watclied a maniac tlirough the grato, 
Whose ravings shocked me to the soul ; 

T asked what sealed his wretched fate ? 
The answer was ' The wretched BowV 

I asked a convict in his chains, 

While tears along his cheeks did roll. 

What devil urged him to his crimes ? 
The answer was ' The cursed BowV " 

O England! England! how long wilt thou protect a 
cursed traffic, thus to destroy thy children ! 

In this prison, Montgomery the poet was once a political 
prisoner. Here he wrote his " Prison Amusement." And 
yonder stands the statute of Madame Justice, whom he so 
ungaUantly satirized : 

" There, on the outside of the door, 
(As sang a wag of yore,) 
Stands Mother Justice, tall and thin, 
Who never yet hath entered in ! 
The cause, my friend, may soon be shown, 
The lady was a stepping-stone. 
Till — though the metamorphose odd is — ■■ 
A chisel made the block a goddess I 

"tT^ mis pour rnon coict" "I paid dear for it,' said the 
Frenchman. However, few there are who take up lodgings 
here are on good terms with " Mother Justice," meaning no 
disrespect, of course, to the excellent Montgomery, to whom 
Mother England has shown true signs of repentance, by 
making her once abused sou her Poet Laureate ! 

Time prevented us from making a minute inspection of 



462 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVIXG. 

tlie melanclioly place. ^Ve left, depreciating an incarcera- 
tion in that hell, of which this gi'eat prison is a type. For, 
although the accommodation and discipline of the prison are 
such as even Howard himself would hardly have objected 
to; still it is a prison, and in connection with its ruined 
inmates, forces the idea of hell upon one, vividly as 
Vesuvius ! 

Kor can it fail, one would think, to impress the criminals 
themselves with a similar idea. They all appeared solemn 
and well-behaved; no thanks to them for that, perhaps; 
nevertheless many a sinner has repented unto life in York 
Castle. In those cells, 

" Where desperate hands have vainly striven, 

To wrest the bars in vain." 

And where Guilt has presented its " scarred and black- 
ened breast," and Hate, its '' sullen glare," and Shame has 
cowered, and "Anguish drained the darkest dregs of pain ;" 
and where Justice has seized its victim, " to smite unto the 
death ;" and w^here Despair has sat in desolation ; aye ! 
there, even there, has many a lion become a lamb, in years 
gone by; the penitential sob, the appeal to Heaven, the 
earnest cry for mercy, w^here it is never refused the sincere 
penitent, offered in the name of Jesus Christ ; where mercy 
has often descended and whispered peace. 

York is a very ancient city; the Eboracum of the 
Romans, and even in this day the first city in Britain. It 
still retains the honorary title of "the Capital of the 
North," although neither so large, populous, nor wealthy as 



INTELLECTUAL OSCILLATIONS. 463 

some other gi-eat towns in the kingdom ; yet, in point of 
rank, it is not denied the credit of being the second city in 
England. 

It is walled, and but for its low position, and the absence 
of mihtary display, reminds one of Quebec. The walls, in 
some parts, afford an agreeable promenade, where I have 
enjoyed many an agreeable walk. 

Plave just returned from a walk among the venerable 
ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, the museum and its gardens, and 
out along the city ramparts. And what a panorama of 
objects met our eye from the ramparts. And the mind, Kke 
a pendulum, moves oscillating between London and Edin- 
burgh, standing equi-distant between these two great capital 
cities ; and next between time past and time future ; from 
the days of Agricola, who first discovered Britain to be an 
island, and who planned the walls of York, and it is said, 
labored upon them, to the Koman emperor Adrian, (a short 
space to be sure,) who had his residence here, to the times 
of Severus, who had his court and camp here, and who died 
here, and whose sepulchre is here ; to Constantius the Great, 
who was born here ; and here died his son Constantius, in 
tlie imperial palace, but Avhere is its site ? where ? And so 
down through succeeding centuries ; and where ? — to what 
lengths in the future of York would the mind in its oscilla- 
tions reach. Ah ! but ^\'ithout recognizing aught but 
vacuity or uncertainty, till the farthest point is reached — the 
day of judgment — thence s^vings back to its centre, and 
unto tlie past, even ''^before the mountains were brought forth^ 
or even tlie earth and the world " ivere formed, " even from 
everlasting.'' Ps. xc. 2. Returning sweeps forward " to 



464 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

everlasting^'' burdened with the mighty inquiry concerning 
the eteraal destinies of this multitude saved lately here ; 
wearily back to its York centre, making shorter vibrations 
amidst the points of history, of which those massive gates 
and heavy walls seemed to plead so eloquently, — of the din 
of war — the rush of pursuing or retreating armies, — ^the 
battle-strife of Pict and Dane, Roman, Saxon, Norman, 
and Scot : the dust of whose thousands, fallen in battle and 
in siege, is thick all around these ramparts! And high 
above all, that " mountain of ecclesiastical architecture," as 
Mrs. Sigoumey names it, the Old Minster ! which consumed 
one hundred and fifty years to build ; and which the storms 
of centuries have not been able to overthrow ! We enjoyed 
a quiet turn or two through its vast area, — ^perhaps for the 
last time. 

" I stood within a Minster of old time, 
Ornate and mighty. Like a mount it reared 
Its massy front, with pinnacle and tower, 
Augustly beautifal. The morning sun, 
Through noblest windows of refulgent stain, 
Mullioned, and wrought with leafy tracery, 
Threw o'er the pavement many a gorgeous group 
Of cherubim and seraphim and saint, 
And long robed patriarch, kneeling low in prayer. 
While as his golden finger changed the ray, 
Fresh floods of brilliance poured on all around. 
— O'er the long vista the delighted eye 
Bewildered roved, transept, and nave, and choir. 
And screen elaborate, and column proud. 
And vaulted roof that seemed another sky. 



CASTLE HOWARD. 465 

Fain would I tell you, what a world of sound 
Came from that pealing organ, when its soul 
Mixed with the chanter's breath, bade arch and aisle 
Re-echo with celestial melody. 
Its mighty tide bore off the weeds of care 
And sands of vanity, and made the words, 
Such common words as man doth speak to man. 
All tame and trifling to the immortal soul." 

V 

But along the banks of the Ouse has been my favorite 
walking place ; sweet, long to be remembered scenes. The 
river inins through the heart of the city, and is navigable for 
vessels of sixty tons up to the great stone bridge. The 
rivers Swale and Ure, by a confluence, originate the Ouse, 
which soon receives the Nidd as a tributary; at York it 
takes the Foss ; farther down, the rivers Wharfe and Der- 
wcnt, the Caldcr, the Aire, and the Don — its Yorkshire 
waters, which swell it to a noble river. It forms soon after 
a junction with the river Trent, where it loses its name, like 
niaiiv other coquettes, and becomes the Humbcr, which, in its 
turn, after running eastward for some distance, becomes an 
estuary of the German Ocean, and after toying awhile with 
its tides, is swallowed up and lost for ever in that wilderness 
of water. 

I have been entertained the last few weeks at the house 
of !Mr. Eocliffe, outside the city walls, where every comfort 
lias been nunc to enj^y in" the society of kindred minds. 
Blessed be God ! IIow^ graciously does he provide for me, 
in this respect, always. 

Ihijoycd witli the family, some days since, a pleasant 
ride, the object of v/hich was to sec Castle Howard ; a mag- 
20* 



466 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

nificent mansion ; the interiors exceedingly grand ; furniture 
and paintings, princely. It is surrounded by a beautiful 
park, enlivened by several ornamental buildings ; one of 
which, the family Mausoleum, has an imposing effect, — a 
eircular edifice, surrounded by a handsome colonnade of 
Doric columns, and crowned with a dome, which looks well 
from the interior, rising to the height of sixty or seventy 
feet, mosaic in squares, with a rose in each, and supported 
by a fine display of Corinthian columns : floor in compart- 
ments, inlaid with marble, and a beautiful table of antique 
mosaic. 

What would Diogenes have said of all this ? — ^lie who 
willed in his last testament, that his friend should not bury 
his body at all, but hang it up, staff in hand, to fright away 
the crows ! However, that was no Christian sentiment, nor 
Je^\'ish neither. But he was a fright, poor man, while he 
lived, — ^in his Cynic garb, and crowned with a tub ! With 
such contempt for his poor body while alive, it was not to be 
expected he would provide much better for it when dead. 

Well, whatever may have been the state in which these 
great folks left the world, they are certainly magnificently 
entombed ! Widely different, — O, how widely from the vast 
majority of Christ's sleeping dead wrapped in humble turf! 

Ah ! but the Rising Day is approaching ! Then the con- 
trast will be greater, but the other way ; — when Jesus shall 
say of all His people, as He did of Lazarus, ^^ I go to wake 
them out of their sleep /" Aye ! and these underneath this 
splendid Mausoleum shall be awakened out of their sleep 
also. But how shall they arise ? from whence their souls ? 



SCENERY. 467 

AVhon Death's doors shall be opened, and out from under 
this flattering marble, issues the soul-claimed bodies, — when 
*' Holiness to the Lord," tlirough life, will be more for their 
credit and safety, than all " the sculptured garnish " heaped 
over them when dead ! 

Aye ! The day will declare it ? — ^that Day of days, when 
the wicked shaU be fHghtened out of their graves by the hlast 
of the last trumpet! — but which, to the buried saints, as 
Flavel remarks, it will carry no more terror than the roaring 
of cannon, when armies of friends approach a besieged city, 
for tlie rehef of them that are within it. Hallelujah ! 

The park is also graced by a pretty Ionic Temple, with 
four porticos, over the doors of which are busts of Vespasian, 
FauMina, Trojan, and Sahina. Its floor is of antique marble, 
and its dome is ornamented with white and gold. 

Another part of the park, where four fine avenues of 
trees intersect, stands a stately obelisk, one hundred feet 
high ; with an inscription we did not take time to read. But 
the effect of the whole struck us very agreeably. 

We had a pleasant ride back to the city. The beauty 
of the scenery was charming. Dyer was a fine descriptive 
poet. Here is a fine specimen, in a few words : 

" Ever charming, ever new, 
When will the landscape tire the view? 
The fountains fall, the rivers flow. 
The woody valleys warm and low ; 
The windy summit, wild and high. 
Roughly rushing to the sky ! 
The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tower; 
The naked rock, the shady bower ; 



468 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

And town and village, dome and farm, 
Each give eacli a double cliarm. 

« « « » 

How close and small the hedges lie t 
What streaks of meadows cross the eye I 
A step methinks may pass the stream, 
So little distant dangers seem." 

It would require a position on the top of the old Minster 
to realize the closing lines ! 

Was reminded of the remark of an old Christian writer, 
.that the visible creation is the heathen's Bible, the plowboy's 
primer, and the traveler's perspective, through which he 
receives representations of the excellencies of God*! A Bible, 
primer, perspective ! it is all of these to me. One can read 
more of it, and see more of it, enjoying a ride thus ; but my 
readings are chiefly done on foot ; because then I am under 
necessity of talking with none but Nature, or Nature's God. 
But this excursion was most agreeable and exhilarating; 
besides I had perfect liberty to muse in silence or to con 
verse as I felt disposed. This suited my weakness. Ah, 
well, there is no arguing against debility ; I must yield to 
necessity, and retreat from the battle-ground of York where 
Jesus Christ has given us a glorious victory. Hallelujah ! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

CONCLUDING NOTES OP THE YORK REVIVAL. 

ELL, here I am in Scarborough, close by the ocean ! 




" Minister & must move as well as stars" as an old 
Christian of the seventeenth century observed. 

It became evident to self and friends, that my health re- 
quired rest, so I retreated from York, after preaching 
between one hundred and two hundred sermons, besides 
temperance addresses, etc., etc., — months of hard fighting 
for God, and truth, and souls, against the combined powers 
of hell and error and depravity ; struggling against repeated 
attacks of illness, and consequent debility. 

The numbers saved, according to the report of *our 
secretary, is as follows: thirteen hundred and fourteen jus- 
tified ; seven hundred and twenty-seven sanctified ; total, 
two thousand and forty one souls. To God be all the glory ! 
— ^yes, all the glory, with all my heart, and with all my soul. 
Amen. 

The "VVesleyans and others showed me much kindhess. 
May my Ix)rd Jesus Christ reward thciii. The Lord said to 



470 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

Paul in a vision, " Be not afraid, hut speak and hold not thy 
peace : for I am with thee, and no Tuan shall set on thee to hurt 
thee : for 1 have much people in this city^ Such was my 
faith, and it was sweetly realized ; and, besides, he showed 
me in a stronger sense than " vision," that he had given me 
many friends in that city. 

In the hospitable mansions of Mr. Agar and Mr. E-ock- 
liiFe, I was entertained with genuine English hospitality. 
Precious famiUes ! I feel sure my Lord will reward them 
at the Resurrection of the just, for their kindness to me His 
servant. Amen ! 

And that excellent old servant of God, Joseph Agar, 
Esq., the father of my host — ^now on the extremest edge of 
life, calmly awaiting his Master's call, on the solemn shores 
of that ocean he must sail so soon, yet without any dread of 
the hour of embarkation ! 

His is, indeed, a tranquil evening of a busy day ; — ^what 
one called " the stepping-stone to Heaven ; — enjoyiog 

" An old man's blessings, liberty and leisure. 
Domestic happiness and smiling peace." 

The last Hne is especially apphcable ; for, although the 
wife of his youth has " crossed the narrow sea," and the 
world is all the lonlier on that account : yet he is blest with 
a son who, in all respects loves and honors him ; and a 
daughter-in-law attending to all his wants, ^vith the aifection 
of a daughter. 

He has " liberty and leisure," freedom from all the cares 
of life and leisure, that is well employed in reading, and 
keeps well posted up, through the public papers, as to how 



CONCLUDING NOTES OF THE YORK REVIVAL. 471 

God is governing the world ; and has his purse or pocket- 
book always at hand for payment of subscriptions, and for 
the calls of charity. 

lie is a study ; boT^dng beneath the weight of more than 
fourscore years, yet full of Hfe, shrewd, quick at repartee, 
but all in hannony Tvith the Cliristian character. 

He is well read on the doctrines of Methodism, and for 
many a year the financial watcher of Wesleyan Methodism 
in York. " Yonder comes jMr. Agar, we shall have a col- 
lection," used to bQ pleasantly whispered among the young 
people, when he made his appearance at city gatherings ; 
but they reverenced him for all that, for they knew that no 
hand went deeper into its own purse than that of Joseph 
Agar, on collection occasions. 

He Avas intimately connected with the Eev. John Wesley, 
and accompanied him to some of his Yorkshire appointments. 
"SYhen 'Mr. Wesley resolved upon sending preachers to 
America, ]Mr. Agar took a lively interest in the IMissions ; 
and when Joseph Pilmore, passing through York on his way 
to New York, and preached and needed aid, ]Mr. Agar 
assisted in taking up a collection for him to help him on his 
journey. Little did jNIi*. Agar tliink he should live to see 
the day when American Methodism should have its one 
million of members, and its four millions of regular hearers. 
IVIr. Agar may well exclaim with one of old, " According to 
this time it shall he mid of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God 
wrought ? " Numbers xxiii. 23. 

He was for many years a member of the Corporation of 
the city, and filled the offK-c of Slierifl' ; has been a member 
of tiie Wesleyan Methodist Society in York between sixty 



472 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

and seventy years, filling the various offices of trust which 
Methodism has to bestow upon her laymen, and always with 
the highest satisfaction to his brethren. All honor, through 
divine grace, to such a man. 

I often listened to his heavy cough, and marked the 
evident giving way of that robust frame. Servant of God, 
farewell ! If I meet thee no more upon earth, may I meet 
thee among that noble band in Heaven, — thy associates of 
the last and present centuiy. I can only think of thee now, 
just as the poet describes : , 

" But the old pilgrim, weary and alone, 
Bowed down with travel, at his Master's gate 
Now sits, his task of life-long labor done, 
Thankful for rest, although it comes so late."* 

Last sabbath I spent at Leeds. Preached in St. Peter's 
Wesleyan Chapel, morning and night, in behalf of the Tract 
Society. It was a risk, in the present state of my health, 
considering the size of the chapel, — the largest in the con- 
nexion — four thousand people crammed into it at night. 
The collection amounted to £40, two hundred dollars ; but 
what was better we had thirty-five souls converted, and 
twenty-five behevers sanctified. There was a great cry 
among stricken sinners ! 

Yesterday, in company with that remarkable man, 
}3rother David Greenbury, whom God has lent me for the 
present, to be the companion of my weakness, returned to 
York by railway, and thence to Scarborough, — David, all 



* This aged servant of God " crossed the narrow sea " into the heavenly- 
land, about fifteen months afterwards, in the eighty-siKth year of his age.— J. C. 



CONCLUDING NOTES OF THE YORK REVIVAL. 473 

" Hallelujah and glory ;" poor J. C, thoughtful, pensive, 
prayerful, yet somewhat happy too. 

Between York and Scarborough we noticed the prettiest 
and subUmest arrangement of clouds I ever remember to 
have seen. They overhung the ocean, which we could not 
see, — the gi-eater part of them white as snow, and piled 
upon a gentle sky in remarkable shapes and forms, — 

" Like an arched path o'er the billows thrown." 

David could easily imagine them, the chariot of angels, 
" at a halt," or their paradise, or palaces, or "the pleasant 
pilgrims of the sky," but rather lazy ones, — ^like some other 
sky-bound pilgrims, who need the breezes of heaven to stir 
them up, and waft them off and away to water and refresh 
" the dry places " of the earth, which are calling for them. 

Arriving at Scarborough we found it had been announced 
for me to preach that evening, and without consulting me on 
the subject — ^for I had come to rest a little, and try the 
benefit of the sea-air ; but a sea-voyage would, perhaps, be 
better. We had a good time, however, and a few saved. 
****** 

Brother Greenbury would have me over to his native 
towTi, Maiden ; off we went, and to crowds preached the 
word of life, eight or nine found mercy, and several sanotifi- 
cation. An accidciit on the railway prevented our return 
till late in the night ; had to hire a coach, and David and I 
were in our glory, all alone, praying and praising God, witli 
the same religion glowing in our licarts tliat J*aul and Silas 
had. Acts xvi. 25. ]>ut liow differently circumstanced ! 
Tliey in a prison, feet fast in stocks, and backs all gory with 



474 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

" many stripes ;" we riding in our coach and pair like fine 
gentlemen. Plowever we rejoiced in the midnight hour 
under " the s.unshine of a countenance beaming friendship " 
upon our triumphant spu-its. David well illustrates that 
sentiment of the old poet : 

" My conscience is my crown, 
Contented thoughts my rest ; 
My heart is happy in itself, 
My bliss is in my breast." 

We are hospitably entertained at the house of Mr. Ire- 
land, a relative of Dr. Newton. They insist I must preach, 
if at all able, and would not allow us to stay at an hotel, 
mylisual place, if traveling on my own account. 

* * - * * * * 

Yesterday I preached twice, to crowds of people ; the 
last sermon my Lord greatly owned ; I cried to the multi- 
tudes from that text, " Quench not the Spirit." I Thess. v. 
19. There was a great shaking and crying out for mercy 
among sinners. Blessed be God ! about sixty of them found 
mercy ; and between twenty and thirty the blessing of entire 
sanctification. 

To-day, with a company of friends, I enjoyed a pleasant 
ride to Filey, another agreeable " watering-place " on the 
Yorkshire coast ; returned to Scarborough and preached in 
the evening, when we had thirty souls saved. Eom. v. 1. 

The sea air and rambles along the coast is doing me 
good ; but it is not easy to recruit and keep on preaching. 
Must move elsewhere. But O it is hard to refrain, when 
such an extraordinary power attends one's ministry. It 



CONCLUDING NOTES OF THE YORK REVIVAL. 475 

may not be always thus. There is a period in every God- 
called minister's histoiy, which is his true Heaven-appointed 
hai'vest. Then he must reap, as he may never have the like 
again ; and the night cometh, w^hen he cannot work. 

But a letter from that dear old Lish brother, James 
Field, of Cork, affects me ; he of whom I wrote you some 
account ; who, returning from the Peninsular war, having 
obtained an honorable discharge from the Eoyal Artillery, 
found himself standing before the Wesleyan Chapel in tlie 
city of Cork, about break of day, 21st September, 1809. 
The morning was fine, streets solitary, his beloved wife and 
family yet asleep, ignorant of his arrival. There lie stood 
before the chapel gate, deeply affected. He laid down his 
pack, placed his sword across the iron gate, and kneeled 
down upon the flags and praised God with all his heart and 
soul for providential care midst seiges and scenes of battle 
and bloodshed, and for bringing him safe back to his family 
in peace ; and prayed thus : " And now my God and King. 
I praise Thee for all Thy mercies, as Thou has enabled me, 
by Thy grace, to serve faithfully my earthly sovereign, and 
hast provided for me an honorable discharge from this bloody 
service, I drop, I lay do^vn my carnal sword at tlie gate of 
Thy house, determined by divine grace to put on more 
heartily the whole armor of God, the breastplate of 
righteousness, the girdle of truth, the gospel shoes, and the 
shield of faith. O Lord Jesus Christ, enable me now to 
take the sword of the Spirit, for I am resolved, by Thy 
assistance, to serve Thee as faithfully as I have served King 
George. O God, teach me to be as expert in the use of 
these my spiritual weapons ; teach my hands to war, and 



476 GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING. 

my fingers to fight, that I may crucify the flesh, overcome 
the spirit of the world, and vanquish all the powers of dark- 
ness ; serve my generation, glorify Thy name, and be made 
meet, through rich and abounding mercy, to enjoy Thee in 
glory, tlirough Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen." Now, was 
n3t that a sublime spectacle !* 

And well and faithfully has he kept that solemn oath of 
allegiance to the Son of God. He has fought the good fight 
of faith now nearly forty-five years, and has done the devil's 
kingdom much injury, and been a blessing to many precious 
souls. 

And now in his eightieth year, or more, here is a beau- 
tiful letter from the old warrior, dated from " The banks of 
Jordan," expecting every day the call which conducts him 
to a crown. t He writes, " Do not. Brother Caughey, allow 
them to kill you in England before you have finished your 
Master's work ; for they are like the Indians who happened 
upon a richly laden apple tree, but were in such a hurry to 
get at the fruit they cut it down ! " A good hint ; but ah 
me ! I cast all prudence to the winds, when on track of 
souls. But the Lord reigneth ! Amen. 

****** 

And now farewell, Scarborough ! It is a pleasant town 
and seaport in North Yorkshire ; rising from the recess of a 
beautiful bay, it spreads itself along steep and craggy 
heights. It is a favorite resort of invahds and pleasure- 



* The reader will find a more extended account of this old leader, in "Meth- 

ODKM IN EaKNKST." 

t Not long after he crossed over that Jordan, and entered his promised 
rest. O may I be so happy as to jo:n him there, when my work is done on this 
Bide tbe same Jordan, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Ameu.— J. C. 



CONCLUDING NOTES OF THE YORK REVIVAL. 477 

seekers, on account of its salubrious air and benefit of sea 
bathing and other advantages. Its harbor is supposed to be 
one of the be^t in England. 

I have preached six times here. The secretary (for I 
always have one appointed), reports one hundred and twenty 
converted, and fifty cases of full salvation as the result. 
All glory be to God. He doeth the works. To Him be all 
the gloiy. Amen. 



BOOKS PUBLISHED 



W. C. PALMER, Jr., 

(Successor to Foster & Palmer, Jr.,) 

14 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 



WORKS ON HOLINESS. 



Earnest Christiauitr. By Rev. Jiimes 
Canghey, . . ' . . . $1 75 

Showers of Blessings. By Rev. 
James Caughey, ■ • %. ^ "^^ 

Revival Miseellanies. By Rev. 
James Caughey, . . " . 1 75 

Light in the Dark ; or, Conflict vrith 
Skepticism. By Rev. James 
Caughey 1 75 

Incidental Illustrations of the Econ- 
omy of Salvation. Its doctrines and 
duties. Bv Mrs. P. Palmer. 18mo, 
cloth, . ■ 1 50 

Promise of the Father : or, a Neglect- 
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the author o"f " Wav of Holiness," 
etc. 12mo, cloth, ... 1 50 

Divine Union. By T. C. Upham, D.D., 
Professor of Mental and Moral 
Phiiosophv in Bowdoin College, 
Maine. r2mo, cloth, . . 1 50 

The Central Idea of Christianity. By 
Jessie T. Peck. 12mo, cloth, 1 50 

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By Rev.W. McDonald. r2mo, cloth, 1 25 

The nappT Islands ; or, Paradise Re- 
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Drops of "Water from Many Foun- 
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gift-book. By Mifa Eldridge. 
l2mo, cloth 1 00 



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J. Boyntou. li!mo, cloth. 
Faith and its Effcts ; or, Fragments 

from my Portfolio. 45th thousand. 

By Mrs. P. Palmer. 18ino, cloth, 
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thousand. 18mo, cloth, . 
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of God in all Ages. By Rev. B. W. 

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Love. 12mo, paper, 

— Cloth, 

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or, Bible Guide to a Holy Life. 

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Owen. 24mo, cloth. 
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Tracts on Holiness. In packs of 250 

pages. Per package. 



BOOKS SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. 



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FOUR TEARS IN THE OLD WORLD. 
By Mrs. P. Palmer. The ITfh Thousand of this remarkable Book is now ready for 
delivery to Agents; containiu'T Travels, IncKlents, and Evangelical Labors of Dr. 
and Mrs. Palmkr in England, Ireland, Scotland, and "Wales. 

GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN SOUL-SAVING; 
Or, Selections from the Journal and other writings of the Rev. James Caughey. 
Containing the most strikinf; incidents of a great Revival in York, England; 
Sermons on Holiness, etc. With an Introduction by Rev. Daniel "Wise, D. D. 

-ARROWS FROM MY QUIVER, 
Pointed with the Steel of Truth and "U'inged with Faitli and Love. Selected from the 
private papers of Rev. Jamf.s Caicjuey. Containing a great variety of papers 
on Revival Phenomena. Effective Preaching, on dealing with penitents, BCCKera 
of Holinesfl, etc., etc. With an Introduction by Rev. Daniel Wise, D. D. 



Special attention paid to Fitting Out Sunday-School Libraries, 



CAUGHEY'S WORKS. 



EARNEST OHEISTIANITY, 

EEVIVAL MISCELLANIES, 

SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS, 

LI&HT IN THE DARK. 



Tliese works have been revised, and are brought out in the very best style, ^nd 
make a handsome and valuable addition to the hbrary. 

FHce per Volume, $1.75. Price per Set, $6. SO. 



The works of Revi: James Caughet, the distinguished revivalist, have had a 
most extraordinary sale. It is supposed that nearly one hundred thousand 
volumes of his works were sold in six years. The reader may inquire, What is 
there in them that has given them this unprecedented popularity? There are 
other works displajong more talent, but their sale has been hmited. Mr. 
Caughey understands how to read the heart; he touches the secret springs of the 
soul; he captivates the reader at once by his earnest, impressive appeals. The 
spirit of Christ is breathed into every sentence, and it finds a response in the heart 
of the reader. His thoughts are fresh and vigorous, and always glow with a high 
and holy spirituality, and his appropiuate and stirring illustrations give them 
wonderful power over the heart and conscience. Said Eev. J. V. Watson, now in 
heaven, "We have risen from an hour's reading of these works with our spirits 
more refreshed with the genuine unction — the holy passion of an' evangehcal 
revival spirit — than ever came over our heax*ts in the reading of the same niunber 
of pages in aU the round of literature." 

Here is the secret of their success. They are full of the "genuine unction," 
and we see not how any one can read them without being moved to seek a higher 
state of spiritual hfe, and inspired with a stronger desire to do more for the cause 
of Christ. 

W. C. PALMER, Jr., 

PUBLISHER, 

14 BIBLK HOUSE, 

New York. 






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